The Digital Period is the podcast where we examine our relationship with technology.

In this podcast Judith Zoë talk to users, developers and academics about how technology shapes how we relate to ourselves, each other and the tech we keep using.

Each season centers a fundamental question.

Can menstruation apps improve our autonomy? Can you be vulnerable on a dating app? Is social media actually social?

This is not a tech review podcast. It’s an invitation to think together about how technology lives with us, in our most private moments and in our most public connections.

We combine academic insights with lived experiences, to create a future where technology serves living a good life.

Listen to The Digital Period wherever you get your podcasts.

The Digital Period is a podcast series that examines the relationship between autonomy and technology by taking a closer look at period apps.

In this epilogue episode, the last episode of the first season, Judith Zoë shares five insights she has gained by conducting this project.

You can find the transcripts and more episode of The Digital Period on this platform or on www.thedigitalperiod.com/podcast.

This podcast series is created by Judith Zoë Blijden. The jingle was made by Kristel Scholtens and Judith. The podcast visual was designed by Asja Keeman. This episode was published on the 8th of March 2025.

The Digital Period is a podcast series that examines the relationship between autonomy and technology by taking a closer look at period apps.

This is an intermezzo episode with three cool announcements ft. the PrivacySalon. In January Ill publish the last episode of this season, there is a new season coming up and the Privacy Salon created an exhibition inspired by the upcoming season of this podcast series. Birte and Ferre from the PrivacySalon explain what you can expect from the exhibition and when you will be able to visit it in 2025 at the Huidenclub in Rotterdam.

This bonus episode of The Digital Period Podcast is about localizing technology to local needs. It touches on the importance of embedding period app technology within societies or different geographic regions.

I spoke to Risper Onyango, who pointed me towards a period app called Oky, developed by UNICEF. I also got the chance to approach Niken Lasarati, the international project manager of Oky as well as Ashley Rarieya and Mercy Nzuki, part of the team of LVCT Health about localizing Oky for Kenya. This episode was first published on the 26th of January 2024.

In episode 5, I take time to look to the future. How can we move forward? How can we build a feminist future with technology that fits our values? And what does that mean for period apps?

To answer these questions, I spoke to Marie Kochsiek, co-founder and developer of the period app Drip and Elisa Lindinger, one of the founders of Superrr Lab, a feminist organization and advocacy hub focused on feminist digital policy and many other things.

In this episode, we got philosophical as I spoke to Marjolein Lanzing, Naomi Jacobs, and Jenneke Evers - all philosophers who have done research on period apps and self-tracking technologies. I also talked to Anuj Puri, a postdoctoral researcher at Tilburg University, about what autonomy means for privacy.

Together, we attempt to dissect what autonomy is and how it relates to us in the digital age, especially when it comes to using period apps.

The Digital Period is a podcast series that examines the relationship between autonomy and technology by taking a closer look at period apps.

I really recommend you to also look at the resources listed in the transcript. You can find the transcripts and more episodes of The Digital Period at www.thedigitalperiod.com/podcast. This series is created by Judith Zoë Blijden. The jingle was made by Kristel Scholtens and Judith. The podcast visual was designed by Asja Keeman. This episode was first publisehd on the 8th of December 2023.

In this episode, we dive into the principles and practicalities behind period tracking and how we can better equip ourselves to protect our data.

I talk to Iris Muis from the Data School of the University of Utrecht about how developers can translate values into technology. She points to practical resources that can help make sure our technology is aligned with what we find important.

During my time at the CPDP conference I was lucky to cross paths with Julia Krämer, a researcher from the Erasmus university in Rotterdam. We talk about the ways apps can track us. She walks us through a number of steps we can take in our everyday lives to be more cautious about our data.

The Digital Period is a podcast series that examines the relationship between autonomy and technology by taking a closer look at period apps.

You can find the transcripts and more episodes of The Digital Period at www.thedigitalperiod.com/podcast. This series is created by Judith Zoë Blijden. The jingle was made by Kristel Scholtens and Judith. The podcast visual was designed by Asja Keeman. This episode was first published on the first of December 2023

In this episode Judith Zoë talks to Chiara Nowak, a visual artist, and Anastasia Siapka and Elisabetta Biasin from the KU Leuven University.

To understand the effect of marketing and narratives behind period apps, I spoke to Chiara Nowak, a graphic designer and visual artist working on the project ‘not.a.period’ and got the chance to visit the site of her art installation while we dissected the topic together.

Anastasia and Elisabetta are the authors of the research paper ‘Bleeding data: the case of fertility and menstruation tracking apps’. We discuss the social impact and implications of period apps and potential paths towards overcoming the challenges they pose to our health, safety, and data privacy.

The Digital Period is a podcast series that examines the relationship between autonomy and technology by taking a closer look at period apps.

You can find the transcripts and more episodes of The Digital Period at www.thedigitalperiod.com/podcast. This series is created by Judith Zoë Blijden. The jingle was made by Kristel Scholtens and Judith. The podcast visual was designed by Asja Keeman. This episode was first published on the 24th of November 2023.