Smelling Machine History: Olfactory Experiences of Information Technology

Abstract

This article analyses users' olfactory recollections of computers, based on large-scale, online inquiry material collected between 2002 and 2003 and in 2013. It discusses how olfactory experiences and recollections can be classified based on narration and the causes of odors. Furthermore, it explores the changes of olfactory recollections over the course of ten years, and deals with age and gender in these recollections and in their representations. This project develops new paths and possibilities for studying the cultural history of technology and the collection of research material, as well as the exhibition of the history of computing by examining the historical, cultural, political, and economic dimensions of sensations and senses.

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“…Understanding senses in terms of categories and relevance may also affect research and lead to studying the senses in isolation from each other, focusing, for instance, solely on analyzing visual or auditory aspects of the phenomenon studied. According to Suominen, Silvast & Harviainen (2018), the sense of smell is generally an understudied aspect of material culture. This could be based on an assumption that the sense of smell is separate from rational thinking.…”

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“…The advancement of digitalization in combination with telecommunications has brought computer equipment into its "revolutionary" period [1], [2]. In the 1970s, computer-based technology known as the personal computer was introduced as an alternative to mini-computers [3]. A computer or also known as a desktop computer is capable of conveying processed data and information to someone who needs the data and information at an accelerating speed with the speed of a mini computer, even a mainframe [4], [5].…”