Named Entity Recognition (ner) and Dreams

Named Entity Recognition (NER) is a type of AI which attempts to pull keywords from texts and classify them into broad categories ('person', 'place', and so on). This has powerful applications in the field of quantitative dream analysis. By automatically identifying salient features of dreams, it can make the task of identifying patterns in dream reports much easier for the dreamer or researcher. Collaborating with two other programmers, Gez Quinn (UK) and Sheldon Juncker (USA), I have been working on a prototype online dream journal that uses this technology. Though it's still in development and under a 'working title', it's online at dreamcloud.app. It's early days yet and 'private journaling' is the only mode available, however we have all noticed strong evidence of meaningful patterns in our dreams. We will be discussing some of the design decisions we've made so far, and the broader implications and possibilities of this technology in the field of dreams. As much as it relates to professional dream research, this technology really is ‘all about people’, giving individuals the power to be researchers of their own dreams.