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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More on new research practices in art history
As a follow-up to yesterday’s post on the report on changing research practices in art history, this article in the Wall Street Journal is timely. The president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, James Cuno, is making a strong push for advancing the use of tools such as face recognition, digital mapping, and… Read more
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New report on changing practices in art history research
A study examining changing research practices of art historians was released today. The study, by Ithaka S&R and funded by the Getty and Kress foundations, looks at the impact of “digital art history” and the “interconnected scholarly communities that support art history”. The report also looks at changes to graduate student training in art history.… Read more
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Artsy named Best Art Website
Artsy was named Best Art Website at the 18th Annual Webby Awards. Artsy’s mission is to make all the world’s art accessible to anyone with an Internet connection and is powered by The Art Genome Project. The New York Times has dubbed the award the “internet’s highest honor.” “Internet’s highest honor” by The New York… Read more
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New Open Content at the GRI
Last year we reported on the Open Content project at the Getty Research Institute. In an exciting update the GRI just announced the addition of 77,000 new images. The bulk of these are from the Foto Arte Minore collection: photographs of art and architecture in Italy by Max Hutzel. These photos, shot in the 1950s… Read more
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Antiquities and repatriation
There was a good article in the New York Times last week on the many facets of repatriation of looted artifacts. Some cases involve pressure from countries of origin and lengthy legal battles, such as that surrounding the Euphronius Krater, left, which spent many years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art before travelling back to… Read more
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Tate announces online access to Audio Arts
The Tate announced the online availability of Audio Arts, an “audio cassette-magazine” established by artist Bill Furlong in 1972, that contains interviews, soundworks, readings, lectures and other events with and about modern and contemporary artists. The online resource features all the published versions of Audio Arts — which was in publication for 33 years in 24 volumes,… Read more