As a non-musical person, this quest for the meaning of music has become a bit of a crusade. I asked the same of the Chinese composer Chou Wen-Chung.

The video is much better value, but here is a compressed resume of our discussion. (Which concluded with my opening question unanswered!)

Music is wonder, magic, life, without the limitations of words.
Music expresses emotion without the brain betraying the heart.
Music does not have the limitations of language because it is free of words.
Music allows you to communicate through time, allowing a composer from hundreds of years ago to move us to tears.
Don’t expect anything from music, just let it take you to places in your soul that you didn’t know existed.
We sometimes cry while listening to music and we don’t even know why.
Sometimes music just touches a string of the soul that needed to be released or relaxed.
The more you know the work and the composer, the more powerful the impact of the music.
The beauty of performing is that your relationship with the work changes as you change.
At the same time, music is close to science and based on mathematical ratios.
Why is it that Mozart’s requiem has such a profound effect on its listeners?
I don’t think we can really know what music is.

In a video featuring many photographs of Young Global Leaders, David Aikman of the World Economic Forum explains in this video how, why, who and for what reason the group was formed.

Operating under the umbrella of the World Economic Forum – the Geneva-based organization founded by Klaus Schwab that has a high profile annual meeting in Davos – the Young Global Leaders group is described as

a unique, multi-stakeholder community of the world’s most extraordinary leaders who are 40 years old or younger and who are ready to dedicate a part of their time and energy to jointly work towards a better future.

Each year we identify 200-300 exceptional individuals, drawn from every region in the world and from a myriad of disciplines and sectors. Together, they form a powerful international community which can dramatically impact the global future.

As I get to know them (Disclosure: I am a member of the group) I have begun compiling videos and postings about the group and their often extraordinary stories.

So far, I have put up the following postings/videos (or check this link for the latest updates.)

Angel Cabrera pushes a hippocratic oath for business
Is the price of Jack Ma’s Alibaba too high?
Matthew Bishop on the Danger of Billionaire Philanthropists
Salman Iqbal on Ary and TV in Pakistan
Niklas Zennstrom’s first interview after leaving Skype
Jack Hidary turns the big apples car fleets green
Penny Low on Singapore’s Social Innovation Park
Raju Narisetti on why newspapers still work in India
A lighter moment: Mabel van Oranje and Jimmy Wales
Cory Doctorow on how to be an Uber Blogger
Adam Bly’s Rolling Stone Magazine for Science
James Kondo on fighting obesity of the rich and malnutrition of the poor

Disclosure: I am a member of the YGL group.

Technorati Tags: Adam Bly, Alibaba, Angel Cabrera, Cory Doctorow, Davos, Jack Hidary, Jack Ma, James Kondo, Jimmy Wales, Matthew Bishop, Niklas Zennstrom, penny low, Raju Narisetti, Salman Iqbal, seed media, social innovation park, WEF, World Economic Forum, Young Global Leaders

A new breed of super-rich is now facing the decision of what to do with their money and Matthew Bishop, US business editor of The Economist has been looking at their philanthropic activities.

They certainly have the potential to do a great deal of good, but they could easily pervert the current aid and development system (not necessarily a bad thing!).

They are rich
The new uber rich – Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and the Google boys, among others – say they will give away their money in newly creative and effective ways. In the last 20 years there has been a period of unprecedented wealth creation, with a huge portion of it collected by a small coterie of individuals. According to Forbes magazine, there are now 950 billionaires.

Correction: They are really, really rich
The wealth accumulated by these individuals goes far beyond the fortunes of previous famed philanthropists. In real dollar terms, Bill Gates is wealthier than Carnegie, Rockefeller or any of the great philanthropists of the past. Based on this, these super rich believe they can change the rules of the game.

But are they really doing good?
While Bishop agrees that skepticism is healthy when faced with claims of new forms of philanthropy and people doing good, the approach and style of this new generation is measurably different.

- They aim for change from the bottom, up…
These new rich approach their giving in a much more rigorous and demanding manner than earlier generations, Bishop says. “This is not about building a library with your name, it is about trying to educate people about things that we all take for granted,” Bishop said.

- …and they have time
Many of these super-rich are relatively young and can devote a significant portion of their lives to the task.

But the we are entering uncharted territory
This confluence of wealth, time and a desire to change things puts the current development model on notice: Things can and will change. This certainly could be good thing, but does require oversight.

The frightening result:
We currently expect governments, development-related institutions (The World Bank, UNDP, etc) or relatively ordinary people (voters in a democracy) to make decisions about public policy and the way forward, but these super rich can afford to make decision that will affect millions of people with little accountability.

“These billionaires genuinely think they are trying to make the world a better place, but they challenge the set of assumptions we base our politics on,” Bishop says. “We need a really good public debate about the way these people act so that we can allow them to do the good they wish to do, but not so that they act without accountability.”

Matthew’s book will be published next year.

Technorati Tags: Dalian, Davos, Matthew Bishop, The Economist, WEF, World Economic Forum, Young Global Leaders

Salman Iqbal, President and CEO of the ARY Digital Television Network, speaks about the vast changes sweeping through Pakistan’s television and media market.

Some background:
When launched in 1997, ARY was the first private television network and has been a key force in modernizing Pakistan’s television. The network operates out of Dubai Media City.

The website Pakaffairs.com said about ARY:

This channel has truly brought and depicted the media democracy of Pakistani origin where “everything goes” is the name of the game. Face to face hearty debates, sharing views and opinions openly, exposing issues of political nature, cleverly created political parody and comedy are the crux of this channel. Give it two thumbs up!

Iqbal himself is unencumbered with a traditional media outlook to his business: Prior to running the television station, Iqbal was involved in other businesses within the ARY group, including treasury, gold and jewelry, asset management and property.

The Interview:

IPTV remains distant for Pakistan
Due to Internet penetration and cost of cable vs broadband:
$3.50: Cable, monthly subscription.
$600: Broadband, monthly subscription (for shared connection that only reaches broadband speed sometimes)

But TV has opened up
When the Dubai-based ARY launched Pakistan’s first private TV station there were no competitors. Now there are more than 50 stations run by about 20 companies. ARY itself has 13 channels, including domestic production and international stations, such as HBO, Nickelodeon and Fashion TV.

Thanks in part to China
Cheap TVs produced in China have increased the number of televisions from 9 million a few years ago to more than 22 million television sets today.

But making money is tough
Almost all of Pakistan’s TV is delivered by cable operators, but with just $3.50 per monthly from subscribers, the cable companies do not share their revenue with the television broadcasters. The 90 plus channels available over cable (some pirate) are delivered for free to major urban centers. Outside major urban centers subscribers can only get 10 stations.

ARY’s satellite solution
Creating a direct-to-home service along the lines of Sky or Malaysia’s Astra is the solution that Iqbal sees ahead. The dish (the size a a dinner plate) and will be free to the customer, subsidized by monthly subscription cards bought by customers.

The challenge: The Government Legislation
The biggest challenge to moving ahead is convincing the government to open up for the media, Iqbal said. “The government was built on the media’s back and now the government says it was destroyed because of the media. We are saying the solution government needs to be media friendly.”

Technorati Tags: ARY digital Network, Davos, Dalian, WEF, FashionTV, Dubai Media City, World Economic Forum, Young Global Leaders, Ary, Salman Iqbal

Penny Low, one of the youngest women ever elected to the Singapore Parliament, speaks in this video about the Social Innovation Park in Singapore that she heads.

The SIP, as it is called, aims to cultivate and nurture Singapore’s social entrepreneurs.

While the world has never been so affluent and never had so much technology, many of our institutions remain anchored in the industrial era that began at the turn of the last century, Penny said. The old-style institutions look to help people by making decisions in board rooms rather than by working in the field directly with those affected by problems.

SIP, on the other hand, is founded in the belief people can be empowered to find their own solutions rather than relying on importing outside ideas.

The hope is for the 2.6 hectare Social Innovation Park to create a space to nurture and support such projects.

The idea is to give education to the general public, empowerment to aspiring social entrepreneurs and enhancement of social entrepreneur projects so that they can become scalable and replicable. The park itself will also have a strong bent towards ecology, operating on renewable energy.

As of this filming – during which I was somewhat distracted by a temperamental video camera – Penny was confident the park will have great impact.

Technorati Tags: Dalian, Davos, penny low, sip, social innovation park, WEF, World Economic Forum, Young Global Leaders

While newspapers may be a suffering in most markets, they remain a growth business in India, according to Raju Narisetti, the former editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe, who recently launched what is now India’s newest and fastest-growing business newspaper, Mint.

Narisetti said his English-language newspaper has quickly gathered readership among the highly sought-after 28 to 45 year old educated urbanites and says circulation has grown from 60,000 copies at launch in February to more than 100,000 now.

Among the reasons he cites for newspapers still succeeding in India and other developing countries, are rising levels literacy and limited access to Internet.

“People want to be seen reading a newspaper,” Narisetti said. “We are still a product of aspiration.”

Narisetti reckons that newspapers have about a decade in India before they start facing the same Internet-related problems felt by publications in Europe and the United States.

Launched with the venerable Hindustan Times, Mint sets itself apart editorially by breaking out of the insular style of most Indian newspapers. Instead joining other publications to cover the fact that the Indian-born CEO of Pepsi wore a saari to the board meeting, Narisetti said Mint actually looks at the performance of the company.

To differentiate the newspaper physically, they decided NOT to make it pink (Almost every Indian business newspaper is pink). The newspaper also has Berliner format, similar to Le Monde or The Guardian, and a title not normally associated with am business publication. (An Indian expression for doing well in business is: “He’s minting money”.)

The newspaper was not launched as a free newspaper because local distributors need a share of revenue. That said, with a cover price of less than a cup of tea, potential business readers will not find their publications budget unduly strained.

More detail directly from Raju on the video.

Technorati Tags: Dalian, Davos, livemint.com, mint, raju narisetti, WEF, World Economic Forum, Young Global Leaders

A lively critique of “The Speech” that China’s leaders seem to offer up each time they address an international audience was delivered by Clay Chandler of Fortune magazine when he moderated a panel at the World Economic Forum’s Summer Davos in Dalian

At 4 minutes 40 seconds in this video, Clay expresses extreme disappointment at the speech delivered the previous evening by China premier, Wen Jiabao, and asked the first panelist – a high ranking Chinese official who had the misfortune of sitting on the panel – “Why can’t China’s leaders deliver a good speech?”

The official, surprisingly, disagreed with Clay’s assertion.

Later in the video, Thomas Friedman of the NY Times, a member of the panel, took China to task for not exerting “Soft Power” responsibly.

At one point Clay offered an amusing summary of what he suspects to be a laminated outline passed around by all Chinese leaders preparing to address an international audiences.

Memo to Chinese leaders: Throw out that greasy laminated sheet!!

I have summarized Clay’s outline of “The Speech for Foreigners” for your easy reference.

(Further suggestions welcome from Party members!)

Four steps of “The Speech” to Foreign Guests in China:

1- Basic welcome of the honored foreign guests.

2- Affirm the relationships with those on stage and in the room.

3- Run down checklist of what the party hopes to accomplish (and don’t forget those all-important buzzwords du jour: “peaceful rise” or “harmonious society” or “win-win situation”.

4- Make certain to deliver several minutes of the statistics with GDP up by X percent, exports up by Y percent, the rise of per capita income.

I would love to have heard how much the official translation of Clay’s outline resembled the premier’s speech!

For those willing to sit through the video, below is a video of the speech that premier Wen Jiabao delivered.

Technorati Tags: Clay Chandler, Dalian, Davos, WEF, World Economic Forum, Young Global Leaders

Shared a taxi to Dalian airport with Ola Ahlvarsson, who gave his assessment of China’s boom and the World Economic Forum’s Summer Davos in Dalian.

One of the more memorable moments for me, was the panel in which Clay Chandler of Fortune and Thomas Friedman of the NY Times discussed China’s responsibilities in the world. Rebecca MacKinnon did a good posting about the panel.

Technorati Tags: dalian, davos, Ola Ahlvarsson, World Economic Forum, Young Global Leaders

And now for something completely different: Mabel van Oranje, director of international advocacy for the Open Society Institute, dances for Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales as he waits for a high pressure interview (to be posted shortly on this blog).

Technorati Tags: mabel van oranje, jimmy wales, wikipedia

Table for Two is an initiative promoted in posters and brochures across the “Summer Davos” here in Dalian.

Intended to fight obesity and malnutrition at the same time, the project, spearheaded by James Kondo, encourages companies to donate 20 cents out of every meal served at their company cafeteria.

The meal at the cafeteria is supposed to be a healthy meal that fights the obesity present in wealthy nations, while the money raised helps combat malnutrition in developing nations through meals delivered through an alliance with the World Food Program.

Kondo said 32 companies have so far joined the initiative.

In this video, Kondo, who is president and vice-chairman of the Health Policy Institute in Japan, explains the concept in detail.

Technorati Tags: table for two, james kondo

Cory Doctorow, uber blogger of Boing Boing, science fiction writer and part-time resident of the Magic Kingdom describes how to create a blog that people read.

Cory suggests focussing on headlines that grab the vast number of people who come to your site from search engines. To do this, he said headlines should ignore grammar, reason – and everything else – in order to emphasize what will bring newcomers to your blog.

In discussion after the video ended, Cory also suggested studying the work of Jakob Nielsen , who has done in-depth studies on web usability with eye-tracking equipment. (For someone who is an expert in design, graphics are intriguingly absent from Nielsen’s home page. Perhaps a lesson for us all?)

Having heard Cory’s tips, I’ve become self-conscious about all my blog post titles.

UPDATE: A great posting by Happie Katie has summarized what Cory spoke about in this video.

Cory suggests:

1- Make your headline un-exciting.
2- Don’t split your posts.
3- Don’t put important links and details ‘after the jump’.

(More explanatory detail by Happie Katie):

Katie adds three more suggestions:

4. Use images or visuals as much as humanly possible
5. LINKLINKLINK to your sources and other sites as if your life depended on it
6. Respond to your comments (I’m particularly bad on this one)

Technorati Tags: boingboing, cory doctorow

Compared to Rolling Stone in the early years “when music was less a subject than a lens for viewing culture,” Seed magazine received the 2006 Independent Press Award for Best Science and Technology Coverage.

Headquartered in New York, Seed Media has bureaux in Shanghai, London and Washington.

Aiming for both consumer and professional audiences online and in print, Adam describes how his a passion for science and advocacy of science literacy allowed him to build the company.

This is the first of many video postings from the World Economic Forum’s Summer Davos in Dalian.

Technorati Tags: adam bly, seed media, dalian, davos

Not only does my blog miss out on 1.2 billion potential readers, but this week I am attending the World Economic Forum’s Summer Davos in Dalian, China. I plan to blog about the conference and then spend some time traveling in China afterwards.

I do not hold it against WordPress.com that they are blocked in China. Many publications, including my former employer, the International Herald Tribune, have distribution blocked on a fairly regular basis.

To solve the problem, I sought solutions on the WordPress.com forum. The best answer seemed to be migration away from the excellent WordPress.com service towards a hosted server that is not blocked by the Chinese authorities. (I would provide a link to the posting, but I cannot reach the forum since I am already in China.)

What I do hold against WordPress.com is the difficulties they put in front of my migrating away from their service.

It was only thanks to a good deal of time spent by a generous Internet expert reprogramming my site that I am able to have this rudimentary blog up and running on a server not blocked by the Great Firewall of China.

This blog is only a rudimentary version because WordPress.com does not easily allow the exporting of images. The situation reminds me of the Roach Motel: Photos check in, but they can’t check out.

Any ideas of what to do – short of downloading the photos one-by-one – very welcome! (Also, any anecdotes on WordPress.com in China!)

Technorati Tags: Dalian, Davos, WEF, wordpress.com, World Economic Forum

I will experiment with a new style of Open Source reporting while attending the World Economic Forum’s Dalian meeting in September. (China’s People’s Daily newspaper refers to the meeting as a “Summer Davos”.)

After more than a decade as a reporter for the International Herald Tribune/New York Times, I resigned last month to start a new career as an Asia-based entrepreneur.

My DNA, however, remains that of a reporter and I plan to report from the conference as intensely as I would for the newspaper.

This time, however, I will fully disclose my intended articles on this blog and post a video of every interview.

Some videos will be interviews of people with compelling ideas or stories whom I encounter at the conference and at the Young Global Leaders meeting beforehand, but I plan to concentrate on specific strands of reporting.

To make this process fully Open Source, I will also blog the progress of my reporting as well as solicit tips and ideas. Please leave comments and suggestions!

For these interested in journalism, this project will show how raw material turns into an article (and – no doubt – how a reporter’s perspective is changed by the very act of reporting).

Since I will follow my own agenda rather than the conference, this system varies slightly from the excellent posts on conference blogging by uber-bloggers Ethan Zuckerman and Bruno Giussani.

Here’s my current ideas for two themes (which may vary with reporting):

INTERNETS OF ASIA: Contrary to popular perception among many in technology, culture matters. Countries with similar high levels of technology – Sweden and South Korea, for example – can use that technology in radically different ways. This holds especially true in Asia, with numerous interesting variations: The text message obsession in the Philippines, the reluctance of Hong Kong residents to “show friends” to strangers – and even their friends – in social networking websites. Need many striking examples!

TECHNO CHINA: What are the biggest Internet trends in China and which ones could be exported from China?

A quick selection from the participant list (Further suggestions welcome):

Those watching the Internet and blogosphere:
Magid Abraham co-Founder and CEO of Comscore
Dave Sifry, founder and CEO of Technorati
Kaiser Kuo of Ogilvy in China

Telecom experts:
Yoon Songyee Vice-President, SK Telecom, Republic of Korea
Tero Ojanpera Executive VP and Chief Technology Officer, Nokia, Finland

Web 2.0 Entrepreneurs
Ailin Anshe Graef Chair of Anshe Chung Studios, China
Tariq Krim CEO and Founder, Netvibes, France

Technorati Tags: Dalian, Davos, Global Growth Companies, New Champions, WEF, World Economic Forum, Young Global Leaders