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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Lecture Series: Material Migrations I (Apr 29–Sep 9, 2024/online)
The “Material Migrations” lecture series centers issues of object mobility, transcultural dynamics, and notions of connectivity and resistance with case studies from the Middle Ages until today. Connected to the international collaborative research project “Material Migrations: Mamluk Metalwork across Afro-Eurasia”, funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation and directed by Gertrude Aba Mansah Eyifa-Dzidzienyo and Vera-Simone… Read more
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DH Monday: Looking Forward: The U.S. Copyright Office’s AI Initiative in 2024
More than one year ago, the U.S. Copyright Office launched a comprehensive initiative to examine the impact of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) on copyright law and policy. This blog post highlights the next steps of this ongoing study and summarizes a recent update to Congress from Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter. Over the coming months,… Read more
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DH Monday: CFP – TAD Vol. 9, Issue 1: Generative
Submission Deadline: June 15, 2024 by 11:59 (EDT) / 8:59 (PDT) Editor’s Note: All Topics Welcome at All Times TECHNOLOGY | ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN welcomes all original research in technology, architecture, and design. Submissions may choose to address the focus area identified in this call for papers but are not required to do so. All… Read more
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DH Monday: Webinar – Copyright AI and TDM (May 3, 2024/Zoom)
Open Copyright Education Advisory Net (OCEAN) webinarCopyright AI and TDMFriday, May 3 at 12:00 PM (EDT) / 9:00 AM (PDT) There is absolutely no doubt that research institutions and copyright law have entered the age of artificial intelligence! Please join OCEAN for a discussion that will tackle emerging copyright issues and the application of fair… Read more
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DH Monday: Mellichamp Initiative in Mind & Machine Intelligence Summit 2024: AI and Human Creativity (April 18-19, 2024/Henley Hall 1010)
AI’s capabilities to create visual art, music, stories, and videos are improving exponentially. AI can teach innovative new strategies, unknown to humans, in games such as chess or Go and promises to revolutionize human problem-solving. These advances motivate important questions relating to AI and Human Creativity. Join us at the 2024 Mellichamp Mind and Machine… Read more
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DH Monday: Ten art world things that have happened in VR since Meta bought Oculus 10 years ago
Written by Gretchen Andrew, published on March 15, 2024 on TheArtNewspaper.com. In a 2014 bombshell, Facebook (now Meta) made a bold near $3 billion bet on the future, acquiring Oculus VR, a fledgling company pioneering virtual reality (VR) headsets. This audacious move, while initially met with skepticism, positioned Facebook at the forefront of a potentially… Read more