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: 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
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DH “Monday”: Clark Fellowship in Digital Art History
Yes it’s Tuesday but, given we had Monday off, this post shouldn’t have to wait until next week. The Clark Art Institute has announced a new semester-length residency fellowship for a scholar at any stage of their career involved in a project that is either born-digital or has a substantial component that exists outside the… Read more
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ArchDaily’s Sustainability Glossary: D-E-F
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: Visual Resources 35, no. 1-2: Digital Art History
Visual Resources: an International Journal on Images and their Uses is a print and online journal published by Routledge/Taylor and Francis. It has just produced a Special Issue (Volume 35, Issue 1-2, March – June 2019): DIGITAL ART HISTORY with Guest Editors Mutha Baca, Anne Helmreich & Melissa Gill. Access to the journal is licensed… Read more