‘Data-driven’ dress shows how naked you are online

You might want to think twice before revealing more about yourself on the Internet - especially when wearing this "data-driven" dress.

The 3D-printed dress, designed by graduate student Xuedi Chen, links to your Internet-connected smartphone and becomes transparent as more data about you is accessible online.

"In the digital realm, we are naked all the time," Chen said in a Vimeo post explaining the dress, dubbed "x.pose".



Chen, who is studying at the Interactive Telecommunications Program in New York University, also said the dress is an "exploration and commentary" on the present Internet culture.

"We have already ceded control of our digital data emissions, x.pose goes a step further to broadcast the wearer's data for anyone and everyone to see," she said.

She said many people who carry smartphones and connect to online services like Facebook and Google may not be fully aware of the extent their personal data could be harvested.

In Google's case, she said it "clearly knows where their users are, have been, and possibly even where they're going," and can "most definitely paint a clear portrait of any of their users."

Mobile app

To build x.pose, Chen used a personalized 3D printed flexible mesh, with a layer of "reactive displays" that reflects the trails of information she produces.

While x.pose communicates with a smartphone via Arduino and Bluetooth, its reactive displays will change opacity to reveal the wearer's skin.

In Chen's case, if she is in the NYU area, a patch in the dress will indicate her location, "revealing the fact that her data is being collected and at the same time exposing her skin."

Smart film

In an interview with CNET's Crave, Chen said the panels in the dress are made of smart film, or electrochromic film, "used most commonly for privacy glass."

"The film is opaque when off, and running a specific amount of electricity through it 'switches' it to transparent in microseconds," she said.

When data from a phone app is sent to the dress, the Arduino processor sends signals to the panels to turn from milky white to clear.

"By participating in this hyper-connected society while having little to no control of my digital data production, how much of myself do I unknowingly reveal?" she said.

Physical vs. digital realms

Chen said x.pose is a "real-time reflection of the data that the wearer is producing."

"In the physical realm we can deliberately control which portions our bodies are exposed to the world by covering it with clothing. In the digital realm, we have much less control of what personal aspects we share with the services that connect us. In the digital realm we are naked and vulnerable," she said. — Joel Locsin/VC, GMA News