Digital fashion : wearing your heart on your sleeve
Keith Syn Gin Shu · Summit (Simon Fraser University) · 2002
Clothes and fashion open a secondary i.e. non-verbal communication channel that allows individuals to make connections with each other.Our work proposes the concept of Digital Fashion, which uses technology to connect people in close proximity by enhancing a visual secondary communication channel.Non-private profile information known as shared knowledge is communicated via a n online poll system that activates poll questions periodically.Our Digital Fashion implementation utilizes a handheld computer connected to a wireless radio network to drive a public wearable display worn on the user's body.The wearable display system consists of flexible electroluminescent wire and a light controller responsive to wireless communications.Shared knowledge is stored as answers to poll questions.As poll questions become active, the wearable display changes colours to reflect the wearers' answer to the active poll question.Several user studies were conducted to evaluate this technology with data from field observations, questionnaires and interviews.The results from our user studies revealed that technology could play a useful role within social settings if designed appropriately.We found the choice of fashion as a secondary communication channel very appropriate because of its unobtrusiveness.Our system did not appear to hinder interactions but rather helped to create richer social interactions.