Exercise No. 1 (Web version)  -- Mapping Inequality

  • Go to the International Futures website (http://www.ifs.du.edu/) and start the web edition of the program.
  • Go to "Country Data Analysis."
  • Open up "Country Map."
  • Choose "Population" under "Data Table" and under "Variable Name" find "InfMor" (Infant Mortality).
  • Go to "Display Type" and choose "equal Interval".  Go to "Number of Categories and increase it to 7.  Go to "Labels" and choose "add" and change the "color" to gray.
  • Play with the "zoom in," "zoom out," and "recenter" options.  You should now have an easy time of finding your country on the map.  Click your mouse over your country and "zoom in" so that just your country's region appears on the map.  (Clicking on a country places it in the center of the map and zooms in on it.) For example, if your country is in Africa – try to zoom and recenter so that all of Africa appears on the map.
  • Play with "Display Type" ("equal interval" or "equal count") and see how that changes your map.  You want to produce useful maps.  For mapping Infant Mortality "7" categories and "equal count" works well.  You now want to produce 3 "maps" of infant mortality that you will import into a web page that you make in Nvu.  The first map will be of the entire world, the second map will be of the continent or major area where your country is located, and the third map will be a local map centered on your country and its neighbors.  When you get the map you want on the screen "right click" on it and "save image" to a new folder that you make in your account on "So191A on demeter" or your USB drive.  Give it an appropriate name, such as "WorldMapInfantMortality" (no spaces in these names!).  Now zoom in and "save" the map of your country's continent.  Now zoom in again and save the map of your country and its immediate neighbors.
  •   Open up a new page in Nvu and give it a title such as "First Exercise, Mapping Inequality."  Insert a table with 3 rows and 2 columns.  In the left column of each row insert the image of one of your infant mortality maps.  It should look something like this:
  • Now go back and follow the same steps to produce three similar maps of Gross Domestic Product Per Capita (ppp).  You will find this variable (GDPPCP) in the "Data Table" under the "Economics" section.  Save the three maps in the same way and place them in your Nvu web page in a new 2 by 3 table.
  • You are now ready to write your commentary.  Do it in the same Nvu file that contains your maps right in the table cell beside each map.   Look at threee maps of Infant Mortality Rates and write an analysis that includes the following:
    1.  A clear description of the variable you mapped.  Don't tell me that you mapped "IMR"  --  tell me that you mapped the "Infant Mortality Rate" and try to put into your own words what the variable means.  The description of the variable found in the "Data Field" entry is helpful.

    2.  Describe how this particular variable is distributed throughout the world.  Place this analysis in the cell next to the World Map of Infant Mortality.   Next analyze how infant mortality is distributed in all of the continent or area in which your country resides.  For example, if your country is an African one, determine which countries or areas in Africa have a higher "Infant Mortality Rate" than others and which ones have relatively low IMRs.   Place this analysis in the cell next to the continent map.  Finally, include a description of your country's infant mortality status compared to taht of its immediate neighbors.  For example, if your country is Sudan, is its IMR higher or lower than its neighbors?  How much higher? Place this analysis in the cell next to your map of your country and its neighbors.  
  • 3.  Now write another similar commentary of  your Gross Domestic Product per Capita Maps.