Capturing the Semantics of Smell: The Odeuropa Data Model for Olfactory Heritage Information

Pasquale Lisena, Daniel Schwabe, Marieke van Erp, Raphaël Troncy, William Tullett, Inger Leemans, Lizzie Marx, Sofia Colette Ehrich

Abstract: Smells are a key sensory experience. They are part of a multi-billion euro industry and gaining traction in different research fields such as museology, art, history, and digital humanities. Until now, a semantic model for describing smells and their associated experiences was lacking. In this paper, we present the Odeuropa data model for olfactory heritage information. The model has been developed in collaboration with olfactory and art historians. Our model can express the various stages in a smell’s lifetime – creation, being experienced, deodorisation – and their relation to locations, times and the agents that interact with them.