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
-
Where do you stand on Fair Use?
For those who are interested in issues of image Fair Use, the College Art Association has released Copyright, Permissions and Fair Use among Visual Artists and the Academic and Museum Visual Arts Communities: An Issues Report. The extensive report summarizes 100 interviews, related to the use of third-party images in creative and scholarly work, conducted among… Read more
-
Another art museum in financial crisis
The Board of Trustees of Everson Museum of Art, in Syracuse, NY, has announced it has no alternative but to create a “special task force to develop and implement a recovery plan” for the deficit-laden institution. As of now, they have a projected deficit of $500,000 in this fiscal year and have been forced to cancel… Read more
-
View Getty publications in a Virtual Library
Getty Publications is now offering users (free of charge!) digital copies of 235 Getty backlist titles, including many that are now out of print, from the Museum, the Conservation Institute, and the Research Institute. For additional information on digital publication resources offered by the Getty, click here. Read more
-
Call for art submissions for Davidson Library’s Wireless Art Network
The Library is currently accepting applications from student artists for the relaunch of their Wireless Art Network (WAN), a network created by two UCSB graduates, Chris Silva (MFA, New Media, 2013) and Raymond Douglas (BA, Art Studio, 2013), to display art through wireless 802.11 technologies in public spaces. This wireless network, not connected to the… Read more
-
Wellcome Images: Thousands of years of visual culture now available in hi-res images
Wellcome Library, London, announced they have made available over 100,000 high resolution images from their vast collection of resources for the study of all facets of medical history. These images include examples from ancient and medieval medical illuminated manuscripts, paintings and etchings about human anatomy and form, early photographic studies and travel portraits. These can all… Read more
-
Have you visited Flickr Commons lately?
Just last month we reported that the British Library had posted more than a million images on Flickr Commons. But did you know that more than 75 libraries, archives, and museums participate in Flickr Commons by posting objects from their photography archives with no known copyright restrictions. This has translated to over 1.25 million images to… Read more