Podcast

Welcome to the world of period apps

Hello! I am Judith and I have spent 2023 having conversations with individuals, academics and developers about period apps to improve my understanding of autonomy and technology.

The Digital Period podcast takes you on a journey along questions of privacy, autonomy and society’s relationship with technology.

0.Prologue

Why talk about period apps? What does your period tracking app say about you?

In this episode Judith discusses why she embarked onto this project and why she felt period apps were worth exploring. You can find the transcript here.

This episode was published on 13 November 2023

1. Humans & period tracking

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.

Recommended resources: ‘Period Power’ by Maisie Hill, ‘Invisible Women’ by Carolina Criado-Pérez and, for the dutchies, the report ‘Gezondheidstechnologie speciaal voor vrouwen’ by the Rathenau Instituut.

You can find the transcript here.

This episode was published on 17 November 2023

Let’s talk about period apps.

2. Period apps & society

In this episode I talk to visual artist and founder ‘not.a.period’ Chiara Nowak, Anastasia Siapka and Elisabetta Biasin, the authors of the research paper ‘Bleeding data: the case of fertility and menstruation tracking apps’.

Recommended resources: Karen Levy, Intimate Surveillance and learn more about the Wages for Housework movement.

You can read the transcript here.

This episode was published on 24 November 2023

3. Values & technology

In this episode, we dive into how companies can translate values into technology and how individuals can better equip themselves to protect their data. I talk to Iris Muis from the Data School of the University in Utrecht and Julia Krämer from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

This episode was published on 1 December 2023

4. Autonomy & Privacy

This episode is a philosophical discussion about autonomy and privacy. I talk to philosophers Marjolein Lanzing (University of Amsterdam), Naomi Jacobs (University Twente), Jenneke Evers (Leiden University) and Anuj Puri(Tilburg University).

Resources:

This episode was published on 8 December 2023

5. Feminist Futures

In this episode I talk to Marie Kochsiek, co-found and developer of the award winning period app Drip. I also got the chance to discuss the future of feminist digital policy and the importance of feminist creative spaces with Elisa Lindinger, one of the founders of Superrr Lab. You can read the transcript here.

Resources:

This episode was published on 15 December 2023

6. Localization of technology

This bonus episode 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 talk to Niken Lasarati, the international project manager of Oky as well as Ashley Rarieya and Mercy Nzuki, part of the team of LVC Health about localizing Oky for Kenya.

This episode was published January 26th 2024

Epilogue

Stay tuned…

This episode will be published in 2024

Let’s talk about period apps.