Social Capital
Life Online in the Shadow of Ireland’s Tech Boom
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Social Capital
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Narrated by:
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Aoife Barry
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By:
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Aoife Barry
About this listen
A David and Goliath story about Ireland’s role as prime real estate for the world’s largest tech multinationals, and the considerable impact it has had on us as individuals.
At the start of the millennium, the Tech giants landed on Ireland’s shores. Dublin, once one of Europe’s poorest cities, became a beacon of Silicon Valley’s promise of progress and power. As the face of the capital was remade in the image of Big Tech, Irish society embraced technology like no other. Romantic Ireland was dead and gone: social media was here to stay.
In this provocative account, Aoife Barry explores the human cost of Ireland’s Faustian pact with Big Tech, from the local communities uprooted by Google to the traumatised moderators squirrelled in the capital’s pockets, keeping the internet safe at a terrible price. Unsettling, insightful, and wryly funny, she paints a portrait of a country addicted to the internet, refreshing the news, refreshing Twitter, scrolling and scrolling towards a feverish future. She turns an equally honest eye on her own life online, from her humble beginnings using dial-up in her parent’s kitchen to working for Ireland’s first digital-only newsroom, and asks what we bargain in exchange for life in the metaverse.
Social Capital is the coming of age story of Ireland 3.0: set against the backdrop of the tech revolution, it chronicles how we collapse the boundary between physical and virtual reality, and where we might go from here.
©2023 Aoife Barry (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers LimitedListeners also enjoyed...
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Story5 out of 5 stars 23
For better or for worse, Google and social media - “Big Tech”, collectively - have become the new public square. Unfortunately, this public square has a watchful referee standing behind them, ready and waiting to blow the whistle if they veer too far from the preferred narrative. Americans have given these companies enormous power to select the information they read, share and discuss with their neighbors and friends.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good Content....Run 1.2x Speed or You'll Go Crazy
- By Peter on 05-17-20
By: Peter Hasson
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Technically Wrong
- Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech
- By: Sara Wachter-Boettcher
- Narrated by: Andrea Emmes
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 149
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 136
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 137
Buying groceries, tracking our health, finding a date: whatever we want to do, odds are that we can now do it online. But few of us ask how all these digital products are designed, or why. It's time we change that. Many of the services we rely on are full of oversights, biases, and downright ethical nightmares. Chatbots that harass women. Signup forms that fail anyone who's not straight. Social media sites that send peppy messages about dead relatives. Algorithms that put more black people behind bars.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Pretty good but not complete
- By Casey on 10-29-17
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Red Pill, Blue Pill
- How to Counteract the Conspiracy Theories That Are Killing Us
- By: David Neiwert
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 97
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 83
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 80
Conspiracy theories are killing us. Once confined to the fringes of society, this worldview now has adherents numbering in the millions - extending right into the White House. This disturbing look at this alt-right threat to our democratic institutions offers guidance for counteracting the personal toll this destructive mindset can have on relationships and families. Author David Neiwert examines the growing appeal of conspiracy theories and the kind of personalities that are attracted to such paranoid, sociopathic messages.
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2 out of 5 stars
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little basis in logic and reality
- By Alex Martin on 08-27-21
By: David Neiwert
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Antisocial
- Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation
- By: Andrew Marantz
- Narrated by: Andrew Marantz
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 636
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 538
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 537
From a rising star at The New Yorker, a deeply immersive chronicle of how the optimistic entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley set out to create a free and democratic internet - and how the cynical propagandists of the alt-right exploited that freedom to propel the extreme into the mainstream.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing read!!!
- By Nick H on 10-23-19
By: Andrew Marantz
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Break Through the Noise
- The Nine Rules to Capture Global Attention
- By: Tim Staples, Josh Young
- Narrated by: Luis Moreno
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
The odds of getting a video onto YouTube's front page are 1-in-2,000,0000, but Tim Staples, founder and CEO of Shareability, knows how to make the algorithms of Youtube, Google, Facebook and Instagram work for you - and he has the results to prove it, with a thriving business that has gotten their videos onto YouTube's front page an amazing 25 times. Here he shows savvy marketers, entrepreneurs, and online celebrity wannabes how they, too, can develop clever videos that amass millions of views.
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1 out of 5 stars
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NOT A GOOD BOOK TO BE
- By FABIO HART on 05-08-22
By: Tim Staples, and others
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The Filter Bubble
- What the Internet Is Hiding from You
- By: Eli Pariser
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 309
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 255
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Story4 out of 5 stars 251
In December 2009, Google began customizing its search results for each user. Instead of giving you the most broadly popular result, Google now tries to predict what you are most likely to click on. According to MoveOn.org board president Eli Pariser, Google's change in policy is symptomatic of the most significant shift to take place on the Web in recent years: the rise of personalization.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Now in the top 3 best books I've ever read
- By Brian Esserlieu on 05-26-11
By: Eli Pariser
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Sidelined
- Sports, Culture, and Being a Woman in America
- By: Julie DiCaro
- Narrated by: Julie DiCaro
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
In a society that is digging deep into the misogyny underlying our traditions and media, the world of sports is especially fertile ground. From casual sexism, like condescending coverage of women’s pro sports, to more serious issues, like athletes who abuse their partners and face only minimal consequences, this area of our culture is home to a vast swath of gender issues that apply to all of us - whether or not our work and leisure time revolve around what happens on the field.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Get Fired Up
- By Amazon Customer on 10-08-21
By: Julie DiCaro
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True or False
- A CIA Analyst's Guide to Spotting Fake News
- By: Cindy L. Otis
- Narrated by: Erin Dion
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 73
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 61
In True or False, former CIA analyst Cindy Otis takes listeners through the history and impact of misinformation over the centuries, sharing stories from the past and insights that listeners today can gain from them. Then, she shares lessons learned in over a decade working for the CIA, including actionable tips on how to spot fake news, how to make sense of the information we receive each day, and, most importantly, how to understand and see past our own information biases so that we can think critically about important issues and put events happening around us into context.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Good Introduction
- By Chima Onukwuru on 01-17-21
By: Cindy L. Otis
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Program or Be Programmed
- Ten Commands for a Digital Age
- By: Douglas Rushkoff
- Narrated by: Douglas Rushkoff
- Length: 3 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 161
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 140
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Story4 out of 5 stars 137
In 10 chapters, composed of 10 "commands", Rushkoff provides cyber enthusiasts and technophobes alike with the guidelines to navigate the digital new universe. In this spirited, accessible poetics of new media, Rushkoff picks up where Marshall McLuhan left off, helping listeners to recognize programming as the new literacy of the digital age - and as a template through which to see beyond social conventions and power structures that have vexed us for centuries.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Good book, but with some crazy ranting
- By Bjarne on 02-05-15
By: Douglas Rushkoff
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Fight Like a Mother
- How a Grassroots Movement Took on the Gun Lobby and Why Women Will Change the World
- By: Shannon Watts
- Narrated by: Shannon Watts
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 65
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 51
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Story5 out of 5 stars 51
Fight Like a Mother is the incredible account how one mother’s cry for change became the driving force behind gun-safety progress. Along with stories of perseverance, courage, and compassion, Watts shines a light on the unique power of women - starting with what they have, leading with their maternal strengths, and doubling down instead of backing down.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wow!
- By Joy McManus on 06-24-19
By: Shannon Watts
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Nobody's Victim
- Fighting Psychos, Stalkers, Pervs, and Trolls
- By: Carrie Goldberg, Jeannine Amber
- Narrated by: Carrie Goldberg
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 124
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 107
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Story5 out of 5 stars 107
Riveting and an essential timely conversation-starter, Nobody's Victim invites listeners to join Carrie on the front lines of the war against sexual violence and privacy violations as she fights for revenge porn and sextortion laws, uncovers major Title IX violations, and sues the hell out of tech companies, schools, and powerful sexual predators. Her battleground is the courtroom; her crusade is to transform clients from victims into warriors.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Everyone should read this book
- By Alexander on 09-06-19
By: Carrie Goldberg, and others
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Wake Up
- Why the world has gone nuts
- By: Piers Morgan
- Narrated by: Piers Morgan
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 146
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 133
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Story4 out of 5 stars 132
In 2020, the world faced its biggest crisis in a generation: a global pandemic. In the UK, it exposed deep divisions within society and laid bare a toxic culture war that had been raging beneath the surface. From the outset, Piers Morgan urged the nation to come to its senses, once and for all, and held the government to often ferocious account over its handling of the crisis. COVID-19 shed shocking light on the problems that plague our country. Stockpilers and lockdown-cheats revealed our grotesque levels of self-interest.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Another victim of COVID-19
- By Travis M. Erickson on 10-27-20
By: Piers Morgan
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Bet on Black
- The Good News About Being Black in America Today
- By: Eboni K. Williams
- Narrated by: Eboni K. Williams
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 116
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 106
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Story5 out of 5 stars 106
When The Real Housewives of New York City hired its first black cast member after more than 13 years on the air, attorney, speaker, and journalist Eboni K. Williams knew that the public would consider her a diversity hire. But instead of accepting the label, Williams re-envisioned her role as a “Diversity Higher,” an opportunity to prove the significance of Black excellence in the workspace and in society at-large. In this book, she shares all the benefits and advantages that have helped her and many others historically reach great heights in their careers and beyond.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Insightful and Inspiring
- By Pamela on 11-24-24
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Targeted
- The Cambridge Analytica Whistleblower's Inside Story of How Big Data, Trump, and Facebook Broke Democracy and How It Can Happen Again
- By: Brittany Kaiser
- Narrated by: Brittany Kaiser
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 126
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 102
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 103
In this explosive memoir, a political consultant and technology whistleblower reveals the disturbing truth about the multi-billion-dollar data industry, revealing to the public how companies are getting richer using our personal information and exposing how Cambridge Analytica exploited weaknesses in privacy laws to help elect Donald Trump - and how this could easily happen again in the 2020 presidential election.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Heavy on Kaiser, Light on Cambridge Analytica’s Data Operations
- By Morgan H Hoban on 11-05-19
By: Brittany Kaiser
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Smarter Than You Think
- How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better
- By: Clive Thompson
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 103
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 82
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 84
In Smarter Than You Think, Thompson documents how every technological innovation - from the printing press to the telegraph - has provoked the very same anxieties that plague us today. We panic that life will never be the same, that our attentions are eroding, that culture is being trivialized. But as in the past, we adapt, learning to use the new and retaining what’s good of the old.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Title should be Getting Smarter Through Technology
- By A. Yoshida on 03-10-17
By: Clive Thompson
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The Impact Equation
- Are You Making Things Happen or Just Making Noise?
- By: Chris Brogan, Julien Smith
- Narrated by: Chris Brogan, Julien Smith
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 58
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 46
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Story4 out of 5 stars 45
Three short years ago, when Chris Brogan and Julien Smith wrote their best seller, Trust Agents, being interesting and human on the Web was enough to build a significant audience. But now, everybody has a platform. The problem is that most of them are just making noise. In The Impact Equation, Brogan and Smith show that to make people truly care about what you have to say - you need more than just a good idea, trust among your audience, or a certain number of followers.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Almost as good as Contagious
- By Bruce on 05-15-13
By: Chris Brogan, and others
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Bad News
- How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy
- By: Batya Ungar-Sargon
- Narrated by: Batya Ungar-Sargon
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 181
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 167
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Story5 out of 5 stars 165
Today’s newsrooms are propagating radical ideas that were fringe as recently as a decade ago, including “antiracism,” intersectionality, open borders, and critical race theory. How did this come to be? It all has to do with who our news media is written by—and who it is written for. In Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy, Batya Ungar-Sargon reveals how American journalism underwent a status revolution over the twentieth century—from a blue-collar trade to an elite profession.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Balanced, informative, and insightful
- By J. B. Eibel on 06-06-22