Nouf.io

Year: Spring 2018 (Thesis Project)
Project: Visualizing my Scraped Data

Nouf.io is my simulated 3D scanned avatar. She lives in a virtual environment that was constructed using my scraped online data points.

This web experience invites users to click on different objects within Nouf.io’s room. Once an object is chosen, Nouf.io discloses my private information depending on the user’s identity and our level of digital “intimacy”.

Concept

Based on our digital footprints, research shows that computer algorithms are often better in judging personality than humans (Youyou, Kosinski, & Stillwell, 2015). This study also highlights that people’s personalities can be predicted automatically and without involving any human social-cognitive skills.

Nouf.io is a manifestation of my psychological profile derived from my online traces. Her personality and the virtual world mirror each data point I tracked, collected and analyzed about myself online from the past 8 years. 

My thesis question: Does the internet know me better than my friends and family?

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Interacting with Nouf.io

Step 1: Users can visit Nouf.io anytime at www.nouf.io (currently inactive). They are asked to reveal their identity and are warned of overstaying their welcome.

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Step 2: Nouf.io analyzes her level of “intimacy” with the user.

Step 3: Nouf.io reveals herself to the user and starts counting down the time they are allowed in her virtual space.

Step 4: Users are invited to explore and click on objects to learn about my different data points. Depending on the level of “digital intimacy” calculated, some information may be prohibited to access. There are 5 levels of “intimacy”.

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Step 5: After time runs out, Nouf.io rudely kicks the user out of her space.

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“Digital Intimacy”

I allow users to interact with Nouf.io based on a measurement I created called “digital intimacy”. I calculate the number of Facebook likes, messages or any other online interaction I have had with a Nouf.io visitor. There are 5 tiers of digital intimacy. [0 - no interactions at all and 5 - close friendship]. In order to protect my identity, I filter the amount of information they are able to access. 

If a user’s digital intimacy increases in the future, then they will level up and access more of my information.


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How Nouf.io was created

Tools: Python, NLP (NLTK, SpaCy) Unity, 3D Scanning (Artec 3D), Mixamo, Javascript, HTML, CSS, JQuery, Lyerbird.ai, MongoDB

  1. I began with the collection and extraction of archives from different social media platforms in my life (i.e Facebook, iMessage, Whatsapp, Twitter, Google).

  2. My second step was to parse, analyze and search for patterns using NLP (Natural Language Processing). I looked for:

    -sentiment analysis

    -keyword/topic extraction

    -context (place, time, duration)

    -questions I frequently asked Google 

    -sites I frequently visited 

 

With each data point collected, I slowly began giving a voice to Nouf.io

Some Musings...

Nouf.io is motivated by a contradiction - As social media becomes more prevalent in our lives, we're grappling with a persistent tension between its convenience and playfulness, and the fear of surveillance and manipulation.

Nouf.io is a space to directly confront the dual nature of our devices. While she is playful and feels almost gamified, she presents a tale of caution about the persona created when we are tracked online.


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