MODULE 1

🌍Digital Economy Foundations

Begin your journey into the digital economy by exploring fundamental concepts, frameworks, and theories that define this complex field. This module provides essential knowledge about how researchers and practitioners understand, measure, and analyze the digital transformation of our global economy.

📝5 Topics
⏱️~2 hours

🎯Learning Objectives

  • Understand the meaning and scope of the digital economy
  • Master the Digital Economy Knowledge Space Framework (3D analytical model)
  • Identify key research frameworks, models, and methodologies
  • Recognize digital economic practices and their implications
  • Apply analytical lenses to understand complex digital systems
1.1
📖

The Meaning of the Digital Economy

Explore the definition, scope, and evolution of the digital economy. Understand what makes economic activities "digital" and how this transformation differs from previous technological shifts.

Subtopics

  • Defining the Digital Economy
  • Digital vs. Traditional Economic Practices
  • OECD Perspectives and Market Values
  • The Problem of Definition
⏱️20 min📚Reading
1.2
🧊

The Knowledge Space Framework

Master the groundbreaking 3D analytical framework that maps the digital economy across three dimensions: levels (material to planetary), analytical questions, and research lenses.

Subtopics

  • The Three-Dimensional Model
  • Y-Axis: Levels of the Digital Economy
  • X-Axis: Analytical Questions (Who/What/When/Where/How/Why)
  • Z-Axis: Research Lenses (Scale, Time, Flow, Governance, Epistemic)
⏱️25 min📚Framework
1.3
🔬

Research Frameworks & Models

Learn about the key research frameworks used to study digital economies, including models, trends, measurement approaches, and gaps in current research.

Subtopics

  • Models and Modeling Approaches
  • Research Trends and Patterns
  • Measurement Metrics and Challenges
  • Identifying Research Gaps
⏱️30 min📚Academic
1.4
🌐

Digital Economic Practices

Examine real-world digital economic practices from search engines and social media to platforms and blockchain technologies, understanding how they reshape economic activity.

Subtopics

  • Search and Advertising (Google)
  • Social Media Economies (Facebook, platforms)
  • Platform Economics (Uber, Airbnb)
  • Free Economic Practices (Open Source, Wikipedia)
⏱️25 min📚Case Studies
1.5
💡

Key Concepts & Policy Implications

Understand crucial concepts like profit, labor, value creation, and explore policy challenges around jurisdiction, taxation, labor rights, and digital commons.

Subtopics

  • Profit, Rent, and Value in Digital Economies
  • Digital Labor and Free Labor
  • Jurisdiction and Tax Challenges
  • Digital Commons and Policy Frameworks
⏱️20 min📚Policy