From: s_titz@ira.uka.de (Olaf Titz)
Newsgroups: alt.dreams
Subject: A Dream Logging Systematic
Date: 28 Dec 1992 19:42:57 GMT
Organization: Fachschaft math/inf, Uni Karlsruhe, FRG
NNTP-Posting-Host: irau31.ira.uka.de

I have only recently started logging dreams, but I tried to put some
systematics into it. Maybe this is where the CS mind comes through :-)
I don't state that this method does fit everyone, but I'm using it and
maybe it is interesting for you to know.

Headers

I start every transcript with a few Email-like 'header lines' to
describe characteristics. These are (but are not limited to) the
following:
Time - exact date and time when the dream took place, estimated from
the time of awakening (including time zone!).
Title - I try to give the dreams titles, but only for the purpose of
remembering and distinguishing them.
Location - where the dream takes place, if this can be figured out.
Scale or Characteristics - see below.
Begin and End - how the dream started (if this can be determined) and
ended.
Music - as in most of my dreams a certain piece of music is of special
importance (and if only as background) I state it here.

Then I try to write down the strain of action in prose, but as dreams
often feature more than can be expressed in words it's up to the
reader to understand it. ;-) (Mostly it's only me anyway, but I'm just
preparing to submit a ship story to Allen...)
It ends with a rather exact description how I awoke.
After the text always comes a line giving the exact time when I took
the transcript, and documenting later changes and corrections.

Common Abbreviations

RL - Real Life
LD - lucid dreams
#  - forgotten
FA - false awakening
[...] - comments from the RL world
Aw, Co, Cl - see below
(to be continued...)

How to State Dream Characteristics

I've mentioned before that the usual notion of 'lucidity - yes or no'
isn't enough. It is several continuous scales, stating certain
characteristics in terms of a number between 0 and 1. So far I use
three of them:
Aw - awareness of the dream as such, the classic notion of 'lucid',
from 0 (ordinary) to 1 (full aware of "I'm dreaming").
Co - control, from 0 (like in RL) to 1 (like a Holodeck).
Cl - clarity of images. RL is just over 1 on the 0-1 scale (if you
understand).
These are not static, but rather floating, so it is important to
sketch the 'curves': Co .3-1-.7 means "starting with a bit of control,
increasing to full control and later losing a bit of that."
This may sound awfully mathematical to those with different fields of
study. Note that I don't claim that this scheme was necessary, or worked
for everybody. It is just for me, being used to mathematical
descriptions, the easiest way to express what is in my memory of these
characteristics. (I'll welcome comments from other people with similar
thoughts as well as from those to whom this sounds strange. Sharing of
experience has always been a good thing in dream-working.)

Sometimes the whole state can be described with one word. Then I use
this. (Mostly it is the word 'non-lucid', if this implies that
fine-grained curves are not necessary.)

(To be continued sometimes...)

Happy New Year,
Olaf
-- 
| Olaf Titz - comp.sc.student  |   o     | uknf@dkauni2.bitnet | old address |
| univ. of karlsruhe - germany |  _>\ _  | s_titz@ira.uka.de   | is still    |
| +49-721-60439                | (_)<(_) | praetorius@irc      | valid       |
  "My heart is human - my blood is boiling - my brain IBM" - Mr. Roboto