For six years starting in 1999, I spent 5-6 weeks each fall at the University of Hong Kong’s Journalism & Media Studies Centre, co-teaching an online media course. I’m certain that HKU was the first university in the world to require students to create blogs, because Dave Winer gave us space on a server to test his then-beta blogging software in the very, very early days of the mass-blogging movement.

I’ll be based in Hong Kong again this November, co-teaching a class at HKU and visiting the mainland. The JMSC has changed a lot over the years, but it’s still leading the way in Asia. I’m looking forward to seeing the centre’s director, Ying Chan, and her terrific colleagues.

Over the years Hong Kong became one of my favorite places. A friend accurately called it “Manhattan on speed” — capturing the frenetic energy of the place. It revs me up, too.