This guide is intended to introduce you to Beyond 20/20 Web Data Server by carrying out a simple and hopefully typical research task using the United Nations Common Database (UNCDB).

	Visualise and download the percentage figures of AIDS/HIV adult infections prevalence in 1999 in the following Southern African countries:
	Botswana Lesotho Mozambique Namibia South Africa Swaziland Zimbabwe

It is divided into three stages:

1. Finding and selecting the data
2. Visualising the data
3. Downloading the data

Approx. time to complete: 20 minutes.

A4 worksheet version of this task can be printed in or pdf format.

For help, please contact the ESDS International team.

Stage i) Finding and selecting the data

Choose 'UN Common Database' from the 'Direct Links to data' drop down list on the ESDS International website, or via the following url - http://esds.mcc.ac.uk/wds_un to access the UN Common Database.

Input UK HE/FE institutional username and password in the login window. If you do not have a UK HE/FE institutional id, please visit the login help pages within the Access and Preservation section of ESDS.

If you have not already registered with the ESDS you will then be automatically redirected to complete an online registration after which you will need to agree to the UNCDB special conditions prior to being able to access the data using only your UK HE/FE institutional username and password.

On entering the Beyond 20/20 Web Data Server site for the UNCDB data you should see a folder labeled Common Database. Select the folder and then expand the folder labeled Series List to view a list of over 500 series each with a unique series code name displayed in the corresponding table or folder title (the majority of series within the UNCDB are presented as separate tables within Beyond 20/20 WDS although a number of large series have been split into individual country tables and are grouped in folders).

Note: For details on the source and definitions for each of the UNCDB series, please view the comprehensive dataset user guide.

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Expand the 'Series List' folder and select the table 'AIDS/HIV adult infections prevalence, per cent (UNAIDS estimates) [code 29943]' and it will open in table view with all dimension items selected.

At the top of the screen you will see three tabs:

• Reports: returns to list UN Common reports.
• Table: displays the tabular view of the selected data (current view).
• Chart: displays the diagrammatic view of the selected data.

Select the 'Country or Area' dimension either by clicking the ‘Country or Area’ heading in the table or by using the 'Select Items to View' icon .

On the left hand side of the screen you will see the available dimensions under Columns, Rows and Other headings. The current dimension is highlighted in grey, for example in the screen shot above the Country or Area dimension is highlighted and a list of the countries and areas available for selection are shown in the main area of the interface.

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Use the 'Clear All' tool to remove all current selections and scroll down or use the search box to select the following Countries as shown below:

• Botswana
• Lesotho
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• South Africa
• Swaziland
• Zimbabwe

Move onto the 'Year' dimension by clicking on the dimension name or using the 'Select Items to View' tool.

Leave 1999 selected.

Note: There is a new profile function in Beyond 20/20. Profiles enable you to save your selections from each dimension (for example, country or series) of the database. When you return to the database you can re-activate your previously saved profiles. Selections in each dimension are saved individually so you can save selections in as many or few dimensions are you want.

For example, say you wish to select data for a number of countries. Once you have selected your countries you can then save this selection as a named profile by clicking on the profile icon then choosing 'Save current selections as a profile' option. Beyond 20/20 will then remember the countries you have selected and store this selection as a named profile for you to use in future sessions. The procedure can be repeated for any other dimension of the database.

Each time you log on, Beyond 20/20 will recognize who you are and can retrieve your previously saved selections for that database. This means that the next time you wish to run the same query you can click on the profile icon then select 'Activate profile' to reopen your saved selections. The profiles will be saved until you choose to delete them.

You have now completed the Finding and Selecting data stage and can move on to visualising your data.

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Stage ii) Visualising the data

There are two ways of visualising data in Beyond 20/20 WDS - in chart or table format.

View the report in table format by using the 'Show Table' button at the top of the screen.

Change the format of the table by dragging and dropping the 'Country or Area' dimension heading over the top of the 'Year' dimension. As shown in the screen shot below, the 'Years' are now rows and the 'Countries' are columns.

NB: You can also change the dimension order by selecting the 'Set Dimension Order' tool from the set of icons on the toolbar. Select the relevant dimension and use the arrows to re-organise your rows and columns.

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View the report in chart format by using the 'Chart' tab at the top of the screen.

Use the 'Chart Types' icon to change chart type and the 'View printable version' icon to print the chart.

To save the chart image, use Alt + Print Screen and paste into a paint program as right clicking to 'Save picture as' only saves the chart itself and not the chart key or heading.

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Stage iii) Downloading the data

Return to the 'Table' tab to download the data to your pc. Manipulate the table into desired format using the dimension headers as the table layout and contents are downloaded exactly as they appear on screen.

Use the 'Download' icon and select your desired download format.

The rest of the process is the same as downloading any file from the web.

Congratulations you have successfully completed the UN Common Database tutorial - now you are ready to do some serious work with your downloaded data!

Please see the United Nations Common Database dataset user guide for further information on the contents of the database.

If you would like to move to another database you can select the 'Quick links to macro data' drop down box at the top of the page then select the database you require.

Tested on Netscape 7 and Internet Explorer 7

Note: All Beyond 20/20 images used on this page are Copyright © Beyond 20/20 Inc. All rights reserved.

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