Module 8 Library

CSS Infographics for Research in the Global Digital Economy

A reusable set of fourteen Tailwind-friendly infographics covering Module 8 topics. Each block mirrors the original portal's timeline, matrices, dashboards, and research roadmaps so you can drop them directly into topic pages or course resources.

Infographics
14
Topics Covered
7
Design System
Purple gradient · Segoe UI · Responsive

How to Use This Library

  1. Copy and paste: Each infographic lives in a single <article class="infographic"> block. Duplicate the entire block into a topic page.
  2. Tailwind-first: Styling relies on Tailwind utilities. No additional CSS is required beyond the shared CDN setup.
  3. Mobile-ready: Layouts collapse cleanly at the 768px breakpoint used across the course.
  4. Personalise: Update stats, icons, or colour accents while retaining the base gradient and typography.
  5. Accessible: Semantic headings, caption text, and hover states preserve readability and screen reader support.
Topic 8.1

Research Orientation and Evolution

Timeline and conceptual shifts from early ICT infrastructure to the AI and sustainability frontier.

Infographic 8.1.1 Timeline

Research Evolution Timeline (1990s-2030)

Shows how digital economy scholarship moved from connectivity metrics to platform strategy, pervasive AI, and sustainability.

1990s-2005

ICT Era

Digitisation, telecom build-out, internet access, and e-commerce foundations. Metrics focus on PC penetration, broadband adoption, and bandwidth.

2005-2015

Platform Era

Rise of social platforms, mobile computing, and cloud services. Research tracks network effects, data platform governance, and two-sided markets.

2015-2025

AI and Big Data Era

Machine learning deployment, algorithmic decision-making, automation, and large-scale analytics. Highlights ethics, bias, and digital transformation.

2025-2030

Sustainability and AGI Era

Green compute, circular infrastructure, planetary boundaries, and AGI preparedness define the newest research frontier.

Caption: Evolution of digital economy research paradigms over four decades

Infographic 8.1.2 Concept Map

Conceptual Framework Evolution

Three research eras demonstrate shifting priorities from infrastructure to ecosystem governance to intelligent, sustainable systems.

📡

Infrastructure

Hardware, networks, and connectivity metrics (1990s-2005).

🌐

Platform

Ecosystems, network effects, data value (2005-2020).

🤖

Intelligence

AI capabilities, sustainability, ethics (2020 onwards).

Caption: Three distinct phases mark the evolution of digital economy research frameworks

Topic 8.2

Publication Landscape and Journals

Journals, impact metrics, and thematic hotspots guiding digital economy scholarship.

Infographic 8.2.1 Comparison Matrix

Key Digital Economy Journals

Cross-compare leading academic outlets by impact factor, focus, and recurring themes.

Journal Impact Factor Primary Focus Key Themes
Telecommunications Policy 6.9 Policy and regulation ICT policy, infrastructure, market analysis
International Journal of Information Management 18.9 Information systems Data management, digital transformation
Sustainability (MDPI) 3.9 Environmental impact Green ICT, circular economy, SDGs
MIS Quarterly 8.3 Management IS IT strategy, organisational impact, innovation
Information and Management 9.9 IT management Digital platforms, business value, adoption

Caption: Leading journals for digital economy research with 2023-2024 impact factors

Infographic 8.2.2 Distribution Bars

Publication Distribution by Theme (2020-2024)

Contrasts technology-focused publications with applied sector research to reveal citation hotspots.

Technology Themes

  • AI and ML
    1,248
  • Cloud and Edge
    892
  • IoT and Sensors
    687
  • Blockchain
    512

Application Themes

  • E-commerce
    1,034
  • Smart Cities
    823
  • Healthcare IT
    634
  • FinTech
    547

Caption: Publication counts highlight AI and ML as the dominant research theme with 1,248 papers

Topic 8.3

Theoretical Frameworks and Models

Visual summaries of IBCDE, TOE, DEDI, and adjacent frameworks supporting digital economy analysis.

Infographic 8.3.1 Framework Cards

Digital Economy Research Frameworks

Key components for the IBCDE, TOE, and DEDI frameworks expressed as modular building blocks.

IBCDE Framework

📡 Infrastructure
💼 Business
👥 Consumer
📊 Data
🌍 Environment

TOE Framework

🔧 Technology
🏢 Organisation
🌐 Environment

DEDI Framework

📱 Digital Access
🎓 Digital Skills
💻 Digital Usage
🚀 Digital Impact

Caption: Three widely used frameworks for analysing digital economy dimensions

Infographic 8.3.2 Comparison Table

Framework Comparison Matrix

Highlights the analytical purpose of five foundational frameworks across Module 8.

Framework Components Best Application Key Strength
IBCDE Five dimensions Comprehensive national assessment Holistic coverage of infrastructure, firms, and society
TOE Three contexts Technology adoption studies Simplicity and broad applicability
DEDI Four pillars Digital maturity measurement Progressive development tracking
DESI Five dimensions EU country comparisons Standardised European benchmarking
TAM or UTAUT Four to eight factors User acceptance prediction Behavioural modelling accuracy

Caption: Frameworks serve distinct analytical purposes in digital economy research

Topic 8.4

Measurement Methods and Indices

From bibliometrics to composite indices to topic modelling pipelines.

Infographic 8.4.1 Process Flow

Digital Economy Measurement Methodologies

Sequential flow showing how analysis matures from citation baselines to advanced NLP.

1

Bibliometric Analysis

Citation counts, h-index, journal rankings, and co-citation networks.

2

Statistical Indicators

ICT expenditure, broadband penetration, and device ownership rates.

3

Composite Indices

Multi-dimensional aggregation (DESI, NRI, DEDI) with weighted scoring.

4

Text Mining and Topic Modelling

LDA, NLP analysis, sentiment detection, and trend mapping across corpora.

Caption: Progressive sophistication in digital economy measurement approaches

Infographic 8.4.2 Index Cards

Major Digital Economy Indices

DESI, NRI, and DEDI compared across scope, structure, and top-performing countries.

DESI (Digital Economy and Society Index)

EU focus

Five dimensions: connectivity, human capital, internet use, digital tech integration, digital public services.

Finland (1st) Denmark (2nd) Netherlands (3rd)

NRI (Network Readiness Index)

Global

Four pillars: technology, people, governance, impact. Covers 133 countries worldwide.

United States (1st) Singapore (2nd) Sweden (3rd)

DEDI (Digital Economy Development Index)

Emerging

Targets developing economies with emphasis on infrastructure gaps and the digital divide.

South Korea (1st) Japan (2nd) Switzerland (3rd)

Caption: Indices offer comparative lenses across EU, global, and emerging market contexts

Topic 8.5

Sustainability Metrics and ESG Integration

CADiS framework and sustainability dashboard for digital infrastructure.

Infographic 8.5.1 Dashboard Grid

CADiS Sustainability Framework

Six-metric sustainability dashboard capturing carbon, energy, water, circularity, and supply resilience.

⚡ 1.2 kg CO2 per kWh Carbon intensity
💧 2.8 Litres per kWh Water usage
♻️ 68% Circularity Hardware recovery
🌞 45% Renewables Energy mix share
📦 32% E-waste Circular supply chain
🏭 89 Supply score Resilience index

Caption: CADiS framework tracks six key sustainability dimensions for digital infrastructure

Infographic 8.5.2 Metric Dashboard

Data Centre Sustainability Dashboard

Power usage, emissions, water footprint, circularity, and renewable energy composition.

PUE (Power Usage) 1.25

Target < 1.3 · Industry average 1.58

GHG Emissions 3.2

Million tonnes CO2 equivalent per year · 18% lower than 2020

Water Consumption 4.2

Million cubic metres per year · WUE 1.8 litres per kWh

Circularity Rate 72%

Hardware reuse and recycling · up 9% year over year

Renewable Energy Mix

Solar 42% Wind 28% Hydro 18% Other 12%

Caption: Comprehensive sustainability metrics tracking environmental impact of digital infrastructure

Topic 8.6

AI Infrastructure and Compute Economics

Architecture layers and market concentration across the compute stack.

Infographic 8.6.1 Architecture Grid

AI Infrastructure Architecture Layers

Cloud, edge, and centralised compute roles with representative providers and capabilities.

☁️

Cloud

Hyperscale data centres, distributed training, elastic capacity.

AWS · Azure · GCP

🔗

Edge

Latency-critical inference, 5G nodes, smart factories, IoT hubs.

Equinix · Akamai · Nokia

🏢

Central HPC

National labs, frontier training clusters, exascale compute.

Frontier · EuroHPC · ISC

Caption: Layers coordinate global AI workloads from core training to edge inference

Infographic 8.6.2 Market Bars

Market Concentration and Compute Economics

Highlights dominance of hyperscalers and semiconductor firms alongside capital requirements.

Market Share Snapshot

  • NVIDIA
    88% GPU share
  • AWS
    62% AI cloud
  • Google
    45% hyperscale
  • Microsoft
    38% hyperscale
  • AMD
    12% GPU alternative

Compute Economics

Training cost (GPT-4 scale)

$100M+

NVIDIA H100 unit price

$40,000

Hyperscale data centre capex

$10B+

Caption: Market concentration creates barriers to entry and geopolitical dependencies

Topic 8.7

Frontier Research and Gaps (2025-2030)

Gap matrix and roadmap that align future research agendas with course themes.

Infographic 8.7.1 Gap Matrix

Digital Economy Research Gap Matrix

Nine research gaps covering environmental impact, governance, inclusion, and compute equity.

Environmental Impact

Lifecycle carbon footprint of AI models and cloud infrastructure remains under-measured.

Global South

Developing economy perspectives in digital transformation research are under-represented.

Algorithmic Governance

Public-sector AI decision-making lacks robust governance frameworks.

Data Sovereignty

Cross-border flow policies and national control mechanisms remain unclear.

Platform Labour

Gig economy worker rights and long-term welfare impacts lack data.

SME Adoption

Structural barriers limiting digital adoption by SMEs need deeper study.

Cybersecurity

Evolving threat landscapes demand updated national resilience frameworks.

Quantum Computing

Economic implications of quantum breakthroughs are largely unexplored.

AGI Preparedness

Economic restructuring required for AGI-era scenarios lacks research.

Caption: Nine critical gaps signal opportunities for impactful digital economy research

Infographic 8.7.2 Roadmap Timeline

Future Research Trends Roadmap (2025-2030)

Near, mid, and long-term research themes spanning governance, compute, and emerging modalities.

2025-2026 Near-term focus
LLM economics Green computing Digital sovereignty AI regulation Platform governance
2027-2028 Mid-term evolution
Quantum-safe cryptography Edge AI ecosystems Metaverse economics Digital twins Web3 integration
2029-2030 Long-term horizons
AGI preparedness Brain-computer interfaces Quantum computing applications Circular digital economy Post-scarcity models

Caption: Progressive research agenda spans regulatory needs to transformative technologies

Embedding guidance

Pair these visualisations with the Module 8 topic pages, the definitions glossary, and the video library to rebuild the full research experience from the legacy site. Each card mirrors the tone of the original Tailwind portal while remaining lightweight for LMS delivery.