Idioculture in crowd computing: A focus on group interaction in an event-driven social media system

This study aims to establish a conceptual framework on the characteristics of idioculture in crowd computing, as well as the antecedents and consequences of idioculture. Idioculture is defined as distinct cultural elements that characterize a certain group. It is important in group interaction because it can be used as a tool to seek a group's optimal distinctiveness, which is a natural human desire to maintain a balance between being too inclusive or too personalized in crowd settings. In order to provide empirical data for the conceptual framework, this study developed a crowd computing system prototype, named event-driven social media (EDSM), which supports idioculture emergence and sharing in a crowd setting. The prototype was implemented in a massive-scale event involving approximately 20,000 people. The study results were derived from content analysis on 5988 text messages from 1510 users exchanged through EDSM during the event and interviews with 15 users after the event. The findings revealed that group cultures were triggered by EDSM to become idioculture, and the idioculture shared through EDSM affected user experience. First, sources of idioculture included collective, playful, and routine-breaking group cultures. Second, the characteristics of idioculture included catchwords, humorous references, and nicknames. Third, by sharing idioculture, users of EDSM were able to experience social connectedness, group cohesion, and social enjoyment. This study ends with implications on the design of EDSM from the perspective of HCI.

Research highlights
► Idioculture (IDC) is a set of distinct cultural elements that characterize a certain group.
► IDC helps users seek optimal distinctiveness in crowd computing environments.
► IDC includes catchwords, humorous references, and anecdotes.
► Sources of IDC include collective, playful, and routine-breaking group culture.
► Outcomes of IDC include three components of co-experience.