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OWidgets: a toolkit to enable smell-based experience design

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 18:15 authored by Emanuela Maggioni, Robert Cobden, Marianna Obrist
Interactive technologies are transforming the ways in which people experience, interact and share information. Advances in technology have made it possible to generate real and virtual environments with breath-taking graphics and high-fidelity audio. However, without stimulating the other senses such as touch and smell, and even taste in some cases, such experiences feel hollow and fictitious; they lack realism. One of the main stumbling blocks for progress towards creating truly compelling multisensory experiences is the lack of appropriate tools and guidance for designing beyond audio-visual applications. Here we focus particularly on the sense of smell and how smell-based design can be enabled to create novel user experiences. We present a design toolkit for smell (i.e., OWidgets). The toolkit consists of a graphical user interface and the underlying software framework. The framework uses two main components: a Mapper and Scheduler facilitating the device-independent replication of olfactory experiences. We discuss how our toolkit reduces the complexity of designing with smell and enables a creative exploration based on specific design features. We conclude by reflecting on future directions to extend the toolkit and integrate it into the wider audio-visual ecosystem.

Funding

OWidgets - Design of a new non-existing layer of information delivery through smell; G2057; EUROPEAN UNION; 737576

SenseX - Sensory Experiences for Interactive Technologies; G1589; EUROPEAN UNION; H2020-ERC-2014-STG-638605

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

International Journal of Human-Computer Studies

ISSN

1071-5819

Publisher

Elsevier

Volume

130

Page range

248-260

Department affiliated with

  • Informatics Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Creative Technology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2019-06-27

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2020-06-25

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2019-06-27

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