Communications of the ACM

Sounds have proved critical for providing background awareness cues and for giving Hubbub its personality, though not all users find them pleasant or learn the meanings of all the sounds.

Sound IDs also contributed to a sense of camaraderie, revealing information about each user. An administrative assistant chose the theme from the movie Mission Impossible to convey her feelings about her job; another chose "Banana Boat Song" because it was happy and upbeat; another used hard-core rock-and-roll, saying she liked that it made people question their assumptions about her.

We have been asked why Hubbub doesn't let its users choose which sound ID to associate with each of their bubs. Our experience is that our approach helps build a sense of community, allowing Hubbub users to build up common knowledge about which song represents which person (and theorize about the reasons for their choices).