Named after the small red sticker that once guided scholars through legacy 35mm slides, The Red Dot is here to help you navigate the ever-evolving landscape of visual and material research. While rooted in the University of California, Santa Barbara community, our posts are open to all.
At MIRL, we engage with art history, digital humanities, and material culture through hands-on research and archival projects. Guided by our core principles—critical engagement with visual and material culture, ethical stewardship of images and data, and innovative approaches to research and pedagogy—we work at the intersection of technology and the humanities. We are especially interested in how digital tools can expand the study of images, objects, and spaces.
Here, we’ll share insights on Digital Art History and Architectural History, highlight new image and data resources, discuss copyright and ethical considerations, and spotlight events that shape our field.
The Red Dot © 2025 is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
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DH Monday: The Programming Historian
The Programming Historian is a resource of novice-friendly, peer-reviewed tutorials that help humanists learn a wide range of digital tools, techniques, and workflows to facilitate research and teaching. Use lessons to teach your self new technical skills, understand how humanists are using new digital tools, methods, and research processes, or use them in courses for… Read more
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DH Monday: PLATFORM – A digital forum for conversations about buildings, spaces, and landscapes
History of Art & Architecture’s Professor Swati Chattopadhyay announces the just-launched digital venue for conversation on buildings, spaces and landscapes, with creators and founding editors Chattopadhyay, Marta Gutman, Zeynep Kezer, and Matthew Lasner: PLATFORM. PLATFORM is an open digital venue for exchanging new ideas about working with, researching, teaching, and writing about buildings, spaces, and… Read more
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ArchDaily’s Sustainability Glossary: G-H-I
Since architects and designers [and architectural historians!] carry a responsibility of building a substantial future, ArchDaily has put together an A-Z list of every sustainability term that you might come across. Every week, a new set of letters will be published, helping you stay well-rounded on everything related to sustainable architecture and design. Here are… Read more
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DH Monday: USC Library’s Digital Humanities Research Guide
Have you checked out USC Library’s Digital Humanities Research Guide? Beyond its USC-specific opportunities, it lists helpful resources with succinct descriptions – all organized by topic. A favorite section is Digital Visualization. One resource worth exploring: The Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy. Read more
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DH Monday: David Rumsey Map Collection + Georeferencer = Map analyses and spatial discoveries
This year, the IRC DIL lecture series has focused on Mapping, culminating in a hands-on map-making workshop. However, sometimes we’re looking for historical maps and ways to work with them. A magnificent resource for the study and research about and with historical atlases and maps is David Rumsey’s Map Collection. At his last count, there… Read more
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DH Monday: Digital Humanities Summer School: Visualizing San Saba
Rome, July 1 – 07, 2019; Deadline: June 7, 2019 Visualizing San Saba: Digital Storytelling in a Medieval Monastery in Rome This one week Summer School is tailored for art history, archaeology, architecture and engineering students, who are keen on exploring Rome’s unique cultural heritage, through the lens of Digital Humanities. The scarcely known area of the… Read more