Here's an invitation to Davos: I hope that many of you will record video questions and thoughts to send to Davos, putting them up on YouTube tagged "davos07."
This is part of the World Economic Forum's attempt to open the conversation from Davos to the world and vice versa. I also think it's a good opportunity to bring together more voices and viewpoints in a sort of virtual Davos on YouTube.
The other partners in the Davos Conversation Project, which will launch later this week -- the Hufington Post, the Guardian's Comment is Free, BBC News -- are asking their communities to make and post videos. The World Economic Forum will take a limited number of these and get video responses from the participants at Davos, posting both online. Please note that they won't have the resources to get every or even many of the video questions answered. But I think that's only part of the appeal of this. I want to hear more voices down from the mountains of Davos, voices from around the world. And I think video is a very powerful means to deliver these questions and messages: questions, comments, ideas, pleas.
So fellow bloggers and vloggers, please spread the invitation and ask your readers to say it to Davos via YouTube. Below is a list of some of the people who'll be there and a few of the sessions that will be webcast. So record and broadcast your questions and thoughts on world economic issues, on global security, on innovation and collaboration, on health, on energy, on the environment.
The head of the WEF , Klaus Schwab, said that this year's meeting is about "a changing power equation; power is moving from the center to the periphery; vertical command-and-control structures are eroding and are being replaced by horizontal networks of social communities and collaborative platforms." Well, exactly. You're looking at one. Since many of you are the ones advocating and enabling that very change, then share your wisdom and your vision of how the world can and should work in a connected, collaborative, transparent universe.
You don't have to do anything fancy to record a video on YouTube. It is incredibly easy to record and upload a video to YouTube; that's why millions are doing it. But now there's an even easier way: To to YouTube's Quick Capture, let it take over your webcam, and you can record and upload a message in one easy step.
Davos says they want to have an open conversation. So let's have it. Please record questions and messages for Davos and for the world.
Here's a list of a few of the 2,000 participants -- besides Bono:
Heads of state:
Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority;
King Abdullah II Ibn Hussein of Jordan;
Bertie Ahern, Prime Minister)of Ireland;
Prince Albert II of Monaco;
Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan;
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines;
Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of Pakistan;
Abudllah Ahmad Badawi, Prime Minister of Malaysia;
Tony Blair, Prime Minister of United Kingdom;
Felipe Calderón-Hinojosa, President of Mexico;
Jakaya M. Kikwete, President of Tanzania;
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil;
Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa;
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany;
Ahmed Mahmoud Nazif, Prime Minister of Egypt;
Nguyen Tan Dung, Prime Minister of Vietnam;
Fouad Siniora, Prime Minister of Lebanon;
Viktor Yanukovych, Prime Minister of Ukraine.
Heads of international organizations:
M. El Baradei, Director-General, International Atomic Energy Agency;
Pascal Lamy, Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO),;
Paul D. Wolfowitz, President, World Bank;
Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General, UNESCO;
Webcasts include:
The Shifting Power Equation: Lord Browne of Madingley, Michelle Guthrie, E. Neville Isdell, Angela Merkel, Sunil Bharti Mittal, James J. Schiro, Eric Schmidt, Klaus Schwaz
Connectivity: Sergey Brin, Chris DeWolfe Chad Hurley
Climate Change: A Call to Action: Margaret Beckett, Lord Browne of Madingley, John McCain
Arab Peace Plan: Amre Moussa
Energy 2007: The New Era of Petropolitics: Ilham Aliyev, Bi Jingquan, Samuel W. Bodman, Alexander Medvedev, Jeroen van der Veer, Viktor Yanukovych, Thomas L. Friedman
European Identity: David Cameron, Christine Lagarde
China as a Global Player - A Conversation with Hua Jianmin
Who Shapes the Agenda?Gordon Brown, Rupert Murdoch, Eric Schmidt
Is Freedom Over-rated?Shimon Peres
What Is Today's American Dream?John F. Kerry, John McCain
A Business Manifesto for Globalization:Lord Browne of Madingley, Carlos Ghosn, James J. Schiro, Joseph E. Stiglitz
Delivering on the Promise of Africa: Tony Blair, William H. Gates III, Bono
Iraq and The Future of Middle East: Adil Abd al-Mahdi, John F. Kerry, Mohammad Khatami, Javier Solana Madariaga
The Impact of Web 2.0 and Emerging Social Network Models: Chris DeWolfe, Caterina Fake, William H. Gates III