SONG1 has been extended at the Hirshhhorn Museum until May 20th. It’s a 360-degree video projection that wraps around the circular museum. And it’s quite beautiful at night.

I was fortunate to be a judge for the short screenplay category of the American University Visions 2012 competition. As an AU grad and screenwriter, I was glad to help.

In past years, my fellow judges and I agonized over the decision-making process. This year, it was easy. We all agreed on one script.

That screenplay was Alpha by Christina Pamies. She wrote a thought-provoking science fiction script about alternate dimensions. In her story, people have found a way to travel from the “alpha” and “beta” worlds, encountering different and less perfect versions of themselves. Alternate Services is responsible for returning these “rogues” to their own dimension.

It’s hard to write a sci-fi story that you haven’t seen a hundred times before. Alpha kept my interest, especially as I realized that our world was the “beta” reality. Pamies did a great job at making this concept seem plausible and tragic.

One of the other judges described the script as “emotionally mature” which was an apt description. While the scenario was sci-fi, characters grappled with outlandish problems of identity and reality like actual people would. In other words, it’s believable, the most important test for science fiction.

See the rest of the winners of Visions 2012.

Also of note is Pretty All the Time by Annie Coburn, which won for Outstanding Narrative Production. This is a great script too – it won the 2009 DC Shorts Screenplay Competition – and now has begun its life as a short film on the festival circuit.

Washington Post, what happened to you? You’re the paper of Woodward and Bernstein, a beloved local institution and a veritable fourth branch of government.

Coming home after a Saturday night carousing, I used to love to see the trucks lined up outside your building on 15th Street. Back then (the 90s), the paper was printed right next to the Post’s HQ. Blue trucks would be double-parked along the street, waiting to deliver the news to the region.

And if I stayed out late enough, I could pick up the fat slab of Sunday’s paper while it was still technically Saturday night. There was a weird thrill to this, getting the news ahead of everyone else. The Sunday paper was an event, something everyone read.

This is all gone now. Where once stories were reported, fact-checked, edited and edited again before the presses rolled, news these days emerges in electronic form, often-rushed and incomplete. This is a good thing. I am for more news, more information, for the great cornucopia of the web. No more gatekeepers, let the public decide what matters.

But the Washington Post is an institution. It is a brand expressing journalistic quality and integrity. When they publish something, I expect it to be true.

I don’t expect the Washington Post to be running a digital sweatshop, where young journalists are expected to churn out regurgitated news items in the mad pursuit of impossible traffic goals.

How does this fit into the great tradition of the Post? The strength of the paper is its ability to really delve into issues. Why are they trying to be like some smarmy blog?

And getting a few hits on your site – what is that really winning you? Traffic rushes in to click on a link and then rushes off to some other site.

At the What’s Next DC conference, I watched Katharine Zaleski, the paper’s digital news director, give a presentation on the strategy. Coming from the Huffington Post, she brought a relentless focus on metrics. News was to be measured. And the measurement was site traffic. She had charts showing how traffic to the site had increased as the Post increased its “buzziness,” with efforts like news aggregation and blogging.

Does the Washington Post really want to emulate The Huffington Post? Do they want to “surf the trend waves on the Internet”? Shouldn’t the paper be making waves rather than trying to catch them?

And are ephemeral bursts of web traffic the right metric to follow? If so, why not just turn your site over to cat videos? But the Post is more than that, isn’t it?

Stay true to your mission – quality journalism. It’s what you do best. Stop trying to be cool. Don’t go for viral. Avoid “buzziness” and all its advocates.

Instead, simplify. Be the Apple of newspapers. Don’t add more web gimmickry to your cluttered and unusable web site. Focus on what you do best.

Don’t measure web hits – look at engagement. How long do people stay on the site? How many stories do they read? Try to duplicate the loyalty readers once felt toward the paper that they lovingly held in their hands. Better to have 100,000 devoted readers than a million casual followers.

No more second-rate social media. It’s beneath you, Washington Post. Simplify, focus on your strengths and pursue engagement with readers to be true to your news-breaking legacy.

While the Supreme Court heard the Obamacare case, protests against the law were held outside. The media and demonstrators were careful not to get on the steps of the Court, which were under the protection of the Supreme Court Police.

I was there at the beginning.

In 2007, Twitter leapt into geek consciousness at SXSW Interactive. Monitors had been placed in the halls of this tech conference, displaying what people were tweeting about. I thought it was an interesting curiosity, like watching telegrams in real time. Little bursts of text scrolled across the screen, as people shared opinions about the workshops that they were in.

Imagine, prior to this epochal event of just five years ago, we had no easy way of getting real-time information from our friends, unless of course we talked to them. And when we went to events, we were fully present, listening to speakers without constantly checking our electronic devices. We paid attention, more or less. Or nodded off. Or wandered away, in search of something more interesting, guided only by instinct.

I blame Margie Newman. An early-adopter of social media, she sold me on Twitter, pitching it (she does PR) as a great way of getting relevant information delivered right to your iPhone. I followed her as she shared interesting articles about digital marketing, as well as her daily coffee runs.

And it was good, this small-scale tool, this curiosity that entertained and informed me during odd moments during the day. It was a niche web service, used by the super-geeky and wired.

The fact that it failed on almost daily basis (the Twitter fail whale became an Internet meme) confirmed the fact that it was not ready for the mainstream. No one talked about its potential – just having Twitter working seemed like a feat.

I found a use for it. I tweeted the news that I was writing a book, Murder in Ocean Hall. I tweeted how many words I had written. Friends replied that they were looking forward to reading the book. This type of public accountability ensured that I would finish the book, no matter what. And it built an audience for my novel.

While I was engaged in my archaic writing activity, Twitter took off. Tweetups were held. Celebrities began using it. Tweets floated down from space.

The potential of Twitter was fully-realized, as it tied the world together in 140-character chains. Which was wonderful. It’s a great and easy tool that’s perfect for the non-geeky.

Twitter was big, mainstream and it even worked. The fail whale was no more.

But as Twitter and social media took off, several insidious psychological elements of the experience became apparent.

Celebrity Syndrome

The idea of “followers” is contrary to our democratic ideals. We don’t slavishly follow our leaders, as if they’re Eva Peron. We’re not Argentina.

Early Twitter was a free exchange of information among equals. But now Twitter has become about popularity contests and numbers of followers. It’s about sucking up to some pseudo-famous person for a bit of recognition.

This is galling. It’s like recreating the world of high school cliques in cyberspace. I see the Washington Post’s top tweeps and I’m not sure what’s more absurd, a dead-tree paper defining Internet success or the dubious nature of their picks.

Social Media Expert is an Oxymoron

How can you be an expert in a medium that is so new? More than another media, social media is guided by zeitgeist and the fickle whims of the public. You cannot make a video go viral; only millions of people and their individual choices can do that.

You can train people to use social media but, in the end, it’s about knowing your audience and connecting with them in an authentic manner. And then hoping for the best.

The expert that promises that there’s some magic formula is not to be trusted. And if someone labelled as a “guru” or a “rockstar” comes waltzing into your office, then hold on to your wallet, for you’re about to make an expensive mistake.

The overhyped aspects of social media irritate me so much that I included a social media guru in my latest novel, Don’t Mess Up My Block. She writes only in lower-case and is constantly “crushing it” in everything she does.

The Collapse of Attention Spans

I worry about Millenials. Growing up digital once seemed like a gift. It may be a curse. I’m fortunate that I was young before the onslaught of attention-stealing electronic media. As a child, I could sit and read for hours. I still can, but it’s more of an effort now. I have to put the iPhone and iPad out of reach.

In the brilliant book Cognitive Surplus, Clay Shirky makes the point that the rise of the West can be traced to coffeehouses. Caffeine allowed us to concentrate and keep working. But if social media is destroying our ability to focus then how can civilization progress?

The Melding of Work, Life and Home

Facebook comes with one major misgiving for me – it mixes together people from different spheres in my life. Coworkers, high school friends, college buddies, family members and professional contacts are all thrown together in a boiling stew of political theories, recipe suggestions, kid photos, medical problems and news of the weird. It’s disturbing, this mix of people from different times and places, jumbled together and all sharing way too much information.

We used to keep different parts of our life separate, like Don Draper. I’ve known people who have quit Facebook entirely, unable to tolerate this blurring of social and professional lines.

So, What Do You Do?

My advice is to only use the tools that you enjoy. You don’t have to be on Facebook or use Twitter. For me, it’s Twitter, Flickr, Instagram and Facebook (with misgivings). I’m interested in tech, photography and events in DC.

Not on my list: Foursquare (why let people know where I’m at?), Pinterest (it’s just for girls, right?), Tumblr (don’t understand) and YouTube (cat videos).

You could spend all your time tweeting, retweeting, sharing links, rating videos and commenting on life around you. Or you can get out there and live.

After all, on your deathbed, you’re probably not going to say, “I wish I had tweeted more.”

Photos can lie. This one certainly does. While it looks like a picture of a lonely and mysterious scene, the night was anything but. I stepped away from friends for a moment to snap this iPhone pic. To the right was a packed bar blaring pop music into the night.

It’s an Instagram pic, using the Inkwell filter and the super-sexy radial focus tool. The focus is on the figure in the background and the rest is blurred out a bit, which I think adds to the mystery. The photo was also featured on DCist.

I’m quoted in this AOL Government article on citizen participation. The story makes the point that you can have a much bigger impact in your community than at the federal level.

I’ve seen that in DC (the city, not the metaphor), where local issues are frequently debated to death. For example, the ten-year long struggle over the redevelopment of the Wisconsin Avenue Giant. The plan to upgrade this grocery store was so contentious that it claimed the job of one local planning director and caused her successor to steer clear of the whole mess.

Which is why I’ve been so impressed by the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), as I mentioned in the article. They put a bike lane down the center of Pennsylvania Avenue, a project that benefits bikers (like me) and is a powerful example of including bikes in transportation plans. They also put in a protected bike lane down 15th St, a block from where I live. This was done in a matter of months, compared to morasses like the Wisconsin Avenue Giant.

A gorgeous bike lane through the center of Washington.

And DDOT will respond to you via Twitter, within minutes. It’s a little thing but getting a timely reply about a pothole is pretty remarkable, especially from a city government that, at best, can be described as bureaucratic.

(Full disclosure: I worked for nearly a year as a contractor on the DC.gov web site. In addition to being a DC citizen myself, I’ve responded to resident requests, which is why I’m so sympathetic to local government officials.)

Whoever runs the @DDOTDC account must possess remarkable patience to deal with constant complaints about DC roads, delivered quite personally by drivers suffering from broken shocks. Despite the abuse, they respond quickly to complaints.

Parks and Rec does an excellent job at capturing the intensity of an engaged local citizenry. The time capsule episode of the NBC series is one of my favorites:

Leslie tries to encourage civic pride through a time capsule, but it descends into chaos as Pawnee citizens argue over what to include.

Leslie’s efforts to bring the community together tear it apart, as residents argue over what should be in the time capsule, including, among other things, dead pets and copies of the Twilight books. Leslie comes up with a brilliant compromise – the time capsule will include only a video of their discussion, thus showing future generations the town’s “passion”.

If you are going to work in local government, you must have the equanimity of Leslie Knope.

Unlike on the federal side, hidden away in inaccessible buildings thousands of miles from constituents, local government is up close and personal. It’s your friends and neighbors, people who care about the community as much as you do – but frequently have very different ideas about how the place should be run.

Accountability to local citizens can be immediate. The reformer Mayor Adrian Fenty, who pushed for a better-performing government, was bounced out of office by a citizenry more comfortable with the soft corruption of Vincent Grey.

And the DDOT Director who brought a bike lane down the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue – Gabe Klein is gone too, scooped up by the more enlightened city of Chicago.

In local government, you can achieve immediate results – and suffer immediate consequences. It’s the Parks and Rec effect.

The inspection of the Washington Monument for earthquake damage. My photo in DCist Exposed.

Want to see great Washington photos while enjoying DC Brau in a hip art gallery?

Then check out DCist Exposed. It’s the sixth year for this photography show. I have a photo in it too.

DCist Exposed is so big that they have two opening nights – March 21 and 22. I’ll be at both.

You will not find better entertainment for $10!

It was a beautifully mild spring morning – a perfect day to bike to work. Here a bike commuter travels south on 14th Street toward Luther Place Memorial Church.

This is an iPhone pic, modified by Instagram. It also appeared in DCist: Out and About: Weekend Picks.

This photo appeared in America at Work in The Atlantic. It’s a fascinating gallery of the diverse range of professions in this country. I love how The Atlantic does photojournalism so was delighted that they chose my picture for inclusion.

The photo is from an OccupyDC protest. Living in Washington, I see a lot of protests. But what’s interesting to me is how these events are covered by the media.