On universality in human correspondence activity.
The identification and modeling of patterns of human activity have important ramifications for applications ranging from predicting disease spread to optimizing resource allocation. Because of its relevance and availability, written correspondence provides a powerful proxy for studying human activity. One school of thought is that human correspondence is driven by responses to received correspondence, a view that requires a distinct response mechanism to explain e-mail and letter correspondence observations. We demonstrate that, like e-mail correspondence, the letter correspondence patterns of 16 writers, performers, politicians, and scientists are well described by the circadian cycle, task repetition, and changing communication needs. We confirm the universality of these mechanisms by rescaling letter and e-mail correspondence statistics to reveal their underlying similarity.
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA. dean.malmgren@u.northwestern.edu
R Dean
RD
Malmgren
Daniel B
DB
Stouffer
Andriana S L O
AS
Campanharo
Luís A Nunes
LA
Amaral
D001519:Behavior; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D003142:Communication; D015709:Correspondence as Topic; D034742:Electronic Mail; D006802:Human Activities; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D016011:Normal Distribution; D009790:Occupations; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D011057:Politics; D011336:Probability; D012586:Science; D013997:Time Factors; D014956:Writing