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Dan's Blog Websites that Smell
Dan's Blog Websites that Smell
Websites that Smell
Written by Dan Schaefer
A few months ago, I visited Universal Studios and watched a show that featured, among other things, a sense of smell to go with the movie. It was an interesting idea, and it added to my sense of immersion into the movie.
But like all great ideas, one must be careful not to run too far with it.
The website at noseknowsconsulting is promoting the idea of hosting online webinars that … well … smell. When you register for a webinar, you provide your snail mail address so that the host can send you a smell-kit that you hook up to a USB port. The idea is that at certain key points during the webinar, the host can activate certain aromas for the viewing audience.
One of the problems, I understand, is that of cost. Normally when someone registers for an online webinar, he is sent a confirmation email after registering and another “reminder” email before the webinar begins. With the aromatic webinars, however, you have to register far enough in advance to receive the smell-kit in snail mail and then take time to set it up. (Setting it up requires that you apply some drops of scented liquid into the USB device.) The cost is high for people who host these webinars. This is especially true in light of the fact that actual webinar attendance is generally only a small percentage of those that registered. Thus, a lot of people would register for a scent-based webinar and never attend, and the expense of sending him the smell-kit would therefore be wasted.
I could intellectualize more about the technical problems associated with smell-based webinars, but I would only cover one obvious fact: I think it is an extraordinarily bad idea. It is an example of where someone took technology into places where it doesn’t belong. I can accept the idea of a movie theatre having an aroma to enhance the sense of immersion, but websites?
Additionally, I lack the creativity to figure out exactly how one would associate a scent with a website. I do have some ideas, however:
- Google would smell like bearing grease
- Hotmail would smell like postage envelopes
- Technorati and BlogCatalog would smell like human sweat
- Twitter would smell like gun smoke
- Etrade would smell like cash
- Porn sites would smell like … well … you know
- Feedburner would smell like tire rubber
- Amazon would smell like shrink-wrap material
- Weather.com would smell like wet concrete
- Fandango would smell like popcorn
I haven’t decided on a scent for ureadit yet, but I was thinking about a cold glass of Corona with a lime twist.
Best,
Dan
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