Dictating logs

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I know the dictation of logs helps the show tell the watcher what is going on, but does everyone speak their log out loud? Or do we only hear the written log in their voice sometimes? Not everyone has the improv skills necessary to record the coherent logs we hear played back for us in episodes where someone is listening to a dead person's logs.

I suppose a ship's programs could have a setting that allows written logs to be read back in the voice of the person making the entry, whether or not they dictated it aloud.

 

[Jedi Marso]

I'm guessing a talk to text function, which can then be read, reviewed, and amended as needed. But watching TV, it's easier for we the viewers to hear the log entries read to us against the beautiful backdrop of the ship moving amongst the stars or in front of a planet, than have to read them off our TV screens.

 

[Finn]

I know the dictation of logs helps the show tell the watcher what is going on, but does everyone speak their log out loud? Or do we only hear the written log in their voice sometimes? Not everyone has the improv skills necessary to record the coherent logs we hear played back for us in episodes where someone is listening to a dead person's logs.

I suppose a ship's programs could have a setting that allows written logs to be read back in the voice of the person making the entry, whether or not they dictated it aloud.

I believe the TNG era shows made it clear they were all made verbally as it suggested typing or handwriting were quite unusual during the 24th Century, in several instances. Not sure about TOS.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

We may all have an internal dialogue going that could be transferred to paper/computer page/recordings, but it's rarely as polished as we'd like the first time around. I wonder if yeomen copyedited logs as part of their duties?

 

[Tosk]

Miles listens to logs in Whispers, and they all sound very much like the "hero" logs we usually hear. Except that they're about more mundane stuff. And in Trek 5 we see Kirk attempting to record his log verbally until the recorder malfunctions.

 

[scotpens]

I believe the TNG era shows made it clear they were all made verbally as it suggested typing or handwriting were quite unusual during the 24th Century, in several instances. Not sure about TOS.

In a couple of TOS episodes, Kirk made "log entries" when he was away from the ship and had no tricorder or other recording device. I always wondered how he managed that.

 

[Avro Arrow]

We may all have an internal dialogue going that could be transferred to paper/computer page/recordings, but it's rarely as polished as we'd like the first time around.

I can't name specific examples, but I'm pretty sure we have seen instances of characters recording something, stop the recording, and then start over. So there's no reason to assume that the log recordings are literally the first attempt.

 

[Tosk]

I can't name specific examples, but I'm pretty sure we have seen instances of characters recording something, stop the recording, and then start over. So there's no reason to assume that the log recordings are literally the first attempt.

In The Pale Moonlight for one. He doesn't explicitly start the recording over, but it's not a clean entry either, so to speak.

Of course, it all gets erased in the end so it's a moo point.

 

[herofhyrule]

In a couple of TOS episodes, Kirk made "log entries" when he was away from the ship and had no tricorder or other recording device. I always wondered how he managed that.

A few of the log entries in TOS are in the past tense, showing that he records some after the fact. Maybe for some he decides to record them in the present tense despite recording them after the events they describe.

 

[Farscape One]

TOS had examples of log entries being recorded as a voice log. "SPACE SEED", for example, when the rest of the bridge crew are unconscious, except for Spock, he is making a log entry. Also in "THIS SIDE OF PARADISE", he was alone on the bridge making a log entry. He recorded a voice log at the end of "BREAD AND CIRCUSES", commending Scotty for his actions in helping to save the landing party.

In DS9, "WHISPERS" has 'O'Brien' recording, stopping, and continuing to record his log entry while on the runabout heading to the Parada system.

(Side note: "WHISPERS" was the very first mention of the DMZ in STAR TREK... six episodes before "THE MAQUIS" two-parter. Sisko mentioned it in his log while O'Brien was listening to them.)

 

[Tosk]

(Side note: "WHISPERS" was the very first mention of the DMZ in STAR TREK... six episodes before "THE MAQUIS" two-parter. Sisko mentioned it in his log while O'Brien was listening to them.)

Which means that they told Sisko about the DMZ before anyone bothered to inform Picard. (As Necheyev does the following month in Journey's End.) This pleases me.

 

[Finn]

In a couple of TOS episodes, Kirk made "log entries" when he was away from the ship and had no tricorder or other recording device. I always wondered how he managed that.

And there are instances where the logic entry seemed to be dictated as we are hearing it when the Captain is seen and they don't seem to be making a log entry.

 

[Farscape One]

Which means that they told Sisko about the DMZ before anyone bothered to inform Picard. (As Necheyev does the following month in Journey's End.) This pleases me.

It makes better sense for Sisko to know before Picard, anyway, simply by virtue of DS9 being so close to the DMZ while the Enterprise is... almost anywhere other than that area.

 

[Tosk]

Absolutely. He's "closer to the ground", and it actually affects his day to day duties. Picard only gets told about it when his mission of the week makes the knowledge relevant.

 

[Mudd]

They speak.

 

[Victoria]

Back in the days before computers, there were such things as audio typists. Dictation was given to a recording device and the typist simply typed out the recording. People did need to be trained in audio dictation skills (once, in a work setting, I received a letter from a solicitor which had clearly been a recorded dictation. It was complete "stream-of-consciousness" stuff. The dictator had not known how to dictate properly and had signed the completed document without bothering to check it). It wasn't uncommon for prolific writers like Agatha Christie to dictate her books and for the copy to be typed by someone else. Today, people with visual impairments dictate and correct documents purely through speaking and istening.

The point is that the techniques of dictating clearly and logically can be learnt. In a society where spoken records and spoken instructions to computers were common, such techniques would be both picked up naturally and taught. I would expect entries to be checked and corrected when necessary, but for such correction to be fairly unusual.

Also, like written records, spoken records could be (and usually would, I should think) be recorded after (even if very close to) the event rather than simultaneously.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I can't name specific examples, but I'm pretty sure we have seen instances of characters recording something, stop the recording, and then start over. So there's no reason to assume that the log recordings are literally the first attempt.

Sure, but imagine realizing you've wasted two hours finessing your log, when you could have been enjoying off-time.

The point is that the techniques of dictating clearly and logically can be learnt. In a society where spoken records and spoken instructions to computers were common, such techniques would be both picked up naturally and taught.

Perhaps future education will emphasize learning how to record stream-of-consciousness logs, essays, and such.

typing or handwriting were quite unusual during the 24th Century, in several instances.

Isn't it said that handwriting notes usually programs the knowledge more firmly into your memory than merely typing would?

 

[Finn]

Isn't it said that handwriting notes usually programs the knowledge more firmly into your memory than merely typing would?

that’s not relevant. The TNG era has shown handwriting and typing to be antiquated.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

And perhaps since specific knowledge is so easily accessible on the computer, technologically advanced societies prefer to save brain space for knowledge of one's specialty, personal memories, and daily tasks.

 

[Henoch]

I've analyzed all the TOS logs; my conclusions:

1. Log entries are spoken in the present tense narrative;
2. Log entries are inserted narrative as part of the mission report;
3. Stardates seen in text or visually seen spoken by a character are actual stardates of the event;
4. Stardates given in voice-over log entries are based on the stardate when the log is being made, and not the actual event;
5. Voice-over log entries can be minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months after the actual events;
6. I assume the least amount of lapsed time for log entries (report it while still fresh in your memory) but the event can be any length of time prior to the log entry;

YMMV .