Mechanisms and models of human dynamics (Reply)

Kentsis notes that the response time to an e-mail or a letter depends on the semantic content of the correspondence, as well as the social context in which the communication arises1. We would add that it also depends on deadlines, the time dependence of priorities and the dropping of past-deadline messages2, making human response dynamics sufficiently complicated that no simple model could fully account for it3,4,5,6. However, the advantage of the proposed modelling framework is that most of these effects can be incorporated into it, and their impact on the queuing process can be systematically evaluated. Addressing some of these additional mechanisms, including those suggested by Kentsis, requires information that is beyond reach for most researchers at this point.