how to use the datascape - hypotheses

HowtousetheDatascape?

TheToflit18DatascapeisausefultoolforexploringthecollecteddataontheFrenchforeigntradeduringthe18thcentury.Ithasseveralfeaturesandtheaimofthatdocumentationistodisplayallthefunctionsandpossibilitiesofferedbythatdevice.

Theuserinterfaceofthehomepage

ThehomepagedescribesthedifferentfeaturesoftheDatascapeyoucanuse.Youcancomebacktothehomepageatanytimebyclickingonthetoflit18logo(surroundedinred).Allthesefeatureswillbedescribedbelow.

1. MetadataaboutthecollecteddataByclickingon“Metadataaboutthecollecteddata”,youcanlearnsomeinformationaboutthedatabase’sstructureandunderstanddatacollected.

Firstofall,youneedtoselectthetypeofdatayouwantinformationon(“Datatype”).Thereareseveraltypes:

• “Direction”:showsalltheFrenchregionsthatprovideddata,youcanseewherethedataareavailable.

• “Sourcetype”:showsthetypesofsourcesavailable:nationalsources,localsources,sourcesfromthecolonies,etc…

• Differentmerchandises’classifications:“Sources”,“OrthographicNormalization”and“Simplification”concernthe

spellingofmerchandises(howitiswritteninthesources,howtheywerenormalizedandsimplified);

“Medicinalproducts”,“Hamburgclassification”,“NorthAmerica”,“EdenTreaty”,“Grains”,“SITC”,“SITCEN”and“SITCFR”areseveralothermerchandises’classifications.Thesetypesofdatashowtheoccurrences(numberofflows)ofeachcategoryoftheselectedclassificationforeveryyear.

• Differentgeographicclassifications:“Sources”,“OrthographicNormalization”and“Simplification”concernthe

spellingofcountries(howitiswritteninthesources,howtheywerenormalizedandsimplified);

“Grouping”and“O’Brien”arecountries’classifications.

Thesetypesofdatashowthenumberofflowofeachcountryorcategoryoftheclassificationselectedforeveryyear.

Thus,youcanusefilterstochooseasourcetype,acategoryofproducts(orjustasingleproduct),agroupofcountries(orjustasinglecountry),adirectionandyoucanseparateexportsfromimports.Afteryourchoicesweremade,youmayclickonthe“AddCharts”buttontoobtaintherelevantinformation.Asanexample,ifyouchoose“Direction”asDatatype,youwillhavefirstthenumberofdirectionsperyearandafterthatallthedifferentdirectionswiththenumberofflowsforeverydirectioneachyear.

2. ClassificationsbrowserByclickingon“Classificationsbrowser”,youcanfindalltheclassificationsforproductsandcountriesandalltheitemsincludedineachcategoryofclassification.

Forexample,ifyouwanttofindouthowanitemwasclassifiedintheSITC(StandardInternationalTradeClassification),clickonSITCinsidethescroll-downmenuontheleftandwritethenameoftheitemonthearea“Searchitem”.Then,pressEnterorclickonFilterforthedatascapetoshowyoutheclassification.E.G.:“Tabacenfeuilles”isclassifiedintothecategoryn°1intheSITCclassification.

YoumayselectSITCENtoseethedetailsconcerningthecategories,theirmeaning,and,forexample,understandwhatcategoryn°1standsfor.

Youcanalsodothesamethingwithcountries’classification.Sometimes,inthesources,theplaceindicatedisnotacountrybutacityoraregion.Forexample,“Venise”isclassifiedinside“Italie”intheclassificationGrouping.

Thereareseveralclassifications,followingahierarchydescribedbellow(forexamplethenormalisationandsimplificationformerchandises,butitisthesameworkforcountries).

Step1:Orthographicstandardization

Inordertoregroupsomemerchandiseswrittenindifferentformsinthesourcesunderasamespelling(forexemple:alun,aluns,Alun,ALUN),wehavechosentostandardizethespellingofmerchandises(inthelastexample,thegoodspellingis“alun”).Soastodothisstandardization,somerulesarerequiredtodoitproperly.YoucanfindalltheserulesinFrenchinthefile“Normalisationetsimplificationorthographiquedesmarchandises”.Thankstothisorthographicstandardization,the50000merchandisesnamesrepresentlessthan25000standardizednames.Obviously,itfacilitatestheworkwiththedata,asanexampletofollowtheevolutionofsomemerchandisestrade.However,differentstandardizationscorrespondtothesamemerchandisesoitisusefultodoasimplificationafterthatstandardization.

Step2:Orthographicsimplification

Orthographicsimplificationconsiststoregroupdifferentmerchandisesstandardizedunderasamedesignationwithoutlosinginformation.Infact,thissimplificationhaspermittedtoreducethenumberofmerchandisesto18000.

3. IndicatorsByclickingon“Indicators”,youcanexplorethedatabaseanddiscovertimeseriesshowingtheevolutionoftradeflows.Youcanseethenumberofflowsandtheirtotalvalueperyear,choosingonedirectionorall,andthenumberofelementsperyearbydirection.

Asinthecategory“Metadataaboutthecollecteddata”,youcanchoosewhichsourcetypeyouwanttokeepandwhichproductyouwouldlikeinformationon.YoucanalsochooseacountrywithwhichFrancehastraded,adirectionandakind(ExportsorImports).Thenyoumayclickon“Addtheline”andexploretheresults.

Ofcourse,youcanfillinnoneofthecriteria,clickon“Addtheline”andhaveresultsabouttheentiredatabase.Asshowninthefollowingexample:youcanseethenumberofflowsperyearanditsvaluefromtheNationalbestguesssources,andthenumberofdirectionsperyearfoundinthedatabaseforthatsourcetype.

Toexportthedataintext-form,usethe“Exportdata”buttononthebottomrightofthepage.

Additionally,youcancompareseveraltimeseries.Forinstance,youcancomparetheevolutionofimportsandexportsintheentiredatabase,youjusthavetoselectImportsinthecriteria«Kind»and«Addtheline»;thenyoumaydothesamethingwithExportsandbothgraphswillcomeontopofeachother.

4. CountriesnetworkByclickingon“Countriesnetwork”,youcanexplorerelationshipbetweendirectionsandcountries,betweenFrenchregionsandtheirpartners.

First,youshallselectwhichcountryclassificationyouwishtoworkwith.Thenyoumightchoosefilters(eventhoughitisnotrequiredtoaddanetwork):sourcetype,product,kind(ImportsorExports)anddates.Thereafter,clickon“Addnetwork”,andthegraphrepresentingthenetworkyouselectedwillappear.Forexample,wehavechosen“simplification”ascountrynodeswithoutanyfilter.Thatiswhatappearsonthescreen:

Youcanseearealnetworkandyoucan“play”withit.Zoominifyou’dlikeabettervisibilityofrelationshipsbetweendirectionsandcountries.Inthatinterface,youhavedifferentpossibilitieswithdifferentbuttons:

PutthenetworkrepresentationinfullscreenZoominorzoomoutRestarttheinitialrepresentationBreaktherepresentation

Moreover,youcanchooseifyouwantthenodestorepresentthenumberofflowsbetweendirectionsandcountries,orthevalueofflows.Thus,thebiggerthenodeis,thehigherthenumberorthevalueofflows.Youcandothesamethingwiththelinksbetweennodes(choosebetweennumberorvalueofflows).Furthermore,youcanalsoseemorelabelsofcountriesanddirectionsbydiminishingthelabelthresholdandincreasethesizeoftheselabelsbyraisingthelabelsizeratio.Finally,youcansearchanodeintherepresentationwiththetool“Searchanodeinthegraph”andgetsomeinformationonthecountryordirectionchosenbyclickingonanode(youwillobtainthenumberofflows,thevalueoftheseflowsandthedegree).Inordertoexportyourresults,youmaychoosebetweenthefollowingfileformats:CSV,GEFXorSVG.

5. ProducttermsnetworkByclickingon“Producttermsnetwork”,youcanexplorerelationshipsbetweenproducttermstradedbyandwithFrance.Itallowsyoutoseehowproductstermsarerelated(asanexample,theproducts“feuillesdetabac”and“feuillesdefer”arelinkedbytheterm“feuilles”).

First,youmustselectwhichproductclassificationyouwishtoworkon.Thenyoumightchoosefilters(eventhoughitisnotrequiredtoaddanetwork):sourcetype,country,direction,kind(ImportsorExports)anddates.Thereafter,clickon“Addnetwork”,andthegraphrepresentingthenetworkyouselectedwillappear.Forexample,wehavechosen“simplification”asproductsnodeswithsomefilters:“simplification”ascountry,“Bordeaux”asdirectionand“exports”askind.Thatiswhatappearsonthescreen:

Thus,youcanseethatthemostexportedproductsfromBordeauxaresugar(inparticularwhitesugar,“sucreblanc”inthegraph)andvine(inparticulartownvine,“vindeville”inthegraph).Youcanapplythesameoptionsthataredetailedin“Countriesnetwork”exceptitconcernsproducts,notcountriesanddirections.Byclickingonanode,youwillbeabletoseethenumberofflowsofthatproductterm,itstotalvalueandthedegreeofthatterm.