Today's culture of oversharing can tempt us to reveal way too much information online, be it our geographical locations, Facebook friends, age, gender, or anything else. We've gotten a bit numb when it comes to sharing our personal data.
To portray this reality in a more visual and literal way, NYU grad student Xuedi Chen decided to design a dress that reveals more skin as you reveal more personal data online. Chen created the dress, called x.pose, for New York University's Thesis Week, according to CNET.
Chen created the dress by 3D printing the garment with 20 hand-cut reactive displays built into a web-like black skeleton.
A supplementary app tracks the user's data trail and transfers the information to the dress via Bluetooth technology. An Arduino processor takes that information and translates that into changing the panels from white to clear when more data is shared.
On the x.pose site, Chen explains the thought process behind the dress:
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 ... Since I have already ceded control of my data, I wanted to go a step further and broadcast it for anyone and everyone to see.
The end product works in real-time and mirrors the the amount of data you are sharing at that specific moment.