The Digital Period

In the last episode of this season, Judith Zoë shares what she has learned about vulnerability, dating apps and algorithmic love.  The episode explores how vulnerbaility is related to connection and how this relation is shaped and sometimes distorted by technology. What happens when algorithms mediate intimacy? Can love be optimized? And what does real love ask of us today?

In this episode, Judith Zoë talks to Lindsay Ferris, assistant professor and former UX researcher at OK Cupid, about the design of dating apps and how they influence and affect queer people. Lindsay's academic insights are beautifully illustrated by the dater of the episode, who explains how dating apps became a place of romantic and sexual liberation.

In this episode, Judith Zoë talks to Thomas Crul, lead matchmaking engineer at Breeze. Breeze is an innovative dating app that understands innovation is not just technical, but also about your business model, design, and communication. After discovering that their algorithm might be disadvantaging certain groups, the team at Breeze decided to take responsibility. Instead of ignoring the issue, the...

In this episode, Judith Zoë speaks with Carlota Memba Aguado, a researcher from the Free University Amsterdam about how dating apps reflect and reinforce structural inequalities and what responsibilities companies have to acknowledge and reduce bias in design. 

What really happens to our data when we use dating apps? In this episode, Judith Zoë speaks with Lisa Steinfeld, a data protection lawyer at NOYB, the European Center for Digital Rights. They discuss how companies like Grindr and Bumble process intimate user data, and what it means for our privacy and autonomy. Lisa explains the legal cases NOYB has filed including the successful complaint against...

In the third episode of this season, Judith Zoë speaks with dr. Gianclaudio Malgieri, associate professor of law and technology at Leiden University and co-director of the Brussels Privacy Hub. Gianclaudio is one of the leading thinkers on data protection and vulnerability. We talk about power, intersectionality and how dating app design could contribute to empathy and affinity.  The episode also...

In the second episode of this season Judith Zoë interviews dr. Jessica Pidoux, a post-doc researcher at the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland and director of the Swiss NGO personal data. We met on valentines day during the symposium Feelings Inc. organised by Privacy Salon without any preparation. Judith also speaks with a woman who shares her personal experience using dating apps. She explai...

This is the first episode of Season 2 of the Digital Period. This season is about dating apps. In this first episode Judith Zoë explores what happens when vulnerability meets algorithms. She shares her personal experience using dating apps and introduces the central theme of Season 2: vulnerability, not just as a risk, but as a potential source of connection in digital spaces.

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...

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/p...

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 pod...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 t...

In this episode Judith talks to her best friend Iris van Wurmond, Mana Sadeghipour, a public policy professional, and Rayén Mitrovich co-founder of radical data about how and why they track their periods. Together they discuss why tracking one’s period is important to some people and all the different ways this can be done. We also discuss the role of women in health care, the impact of the so-cal...

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 short introduction, I discuss how I, Judith Zoë, embarked on this adventure in the first place and why I want to talk about period tracking apps. Period apps are one of the most downloaded health apps across the world, and they play an incredible in...