New syntax for Twitter #ottawaspends

For a while now, I've been 'tweeting' whenever the government issues a press release announcing that it is spending some money. Since the federal election last October, I have counted 544 such announcements of spending totalling about $35 billion.

A reminder/update on this particular Twitter feed/hashtag and an explanation of the new syntax/abbreviations used in this hashtag.

• I'm only putting up the tweet on the day the announcement is actually made. So, for that reason, #ottawaspends will not be a complete list of all spending announcements. If I'm off the job for a day or two, I will not be putting up tweets with day-old or two-day-old announcements. So these will be “Fresh” tweets only.

• I've changed the syntax of the Tweets. Here's the order of information:

1. Last NAME OF MINISTER RESPONSIBLE FOR RELEASE. Note that MOORE refers JAMES MOORE, Heritage Minister and should not be confused with ROB MOORE, NB MP and Parl Secy to Justice Minister. Click here for a full list of Ministers and their portfolios
2. ACRONYM FOR DEPARTMENT RESPONSIBLE FOR FUNDING The list of acronyms can be found here for major govt institutions and here for smaller agencies and offices. I use the English acronyms. Some are missing and so here they are: (I've made these up)
   • Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency: ACOA
   • Canadian Heritage: PCH
   • Canada Economic Development for Quebec Region: CEDQR
   • Citizenship and Immigration: CIC
   • Foreign Affairs and International Trade: DFAIT
   • Sustainable Development Technology Canada: STDC
3. Last NAME OF MP ANNOUNCING FUNDING (If no local MP makes the announcement, then the minister's name appears here again). Here is a full list of MPs.
4. DESCRIPTION of initiative receiving funding
5. MUNICIPALITY where announcement was made, but not necessarily where money will be spent
6. Two-letter acronoym for the PROVINCE in which announcement was made but not necessarily province where money will be spent. XC means the announcement was made outside Canada.
7. DOLLAR AMOUNT for funding project – federal portion only
8. JURISDICTION where money will be spent. It will either be by province or NAT to indicate the money will flow to Canadians in 2 or more provinces or XC if money will be spent outside Canada.
9. Appropriate hashtags like #ottawaspends

So, one recent tweet is:

Nicholson JUS Paradis Conference for Societe de Criminologie du Quebec. Montreal QC $15,000 QC #ottawaspends

That means that:

On the day of the tweet, MP Christian Paradis on behalf of Rob Nicholson, Minister of Justice, announced $15,000 for the Societe de Criminolige du Quebec. The announcement was made or carries a dateline of Montreal, Quebec and it appears from a plain reading of the release that most of the money will actually be spent in the province of Quebec.

Some questions answered about this —

I've had the odd complaint that there are simply too many tweets on this. I hear you but, in the end, that's what you get if sign up to follow a reporter. I report! I've also had more positive than negative feedback about #ottawaspends.

Now, as to the volume — it ramps up whenever the politicians leave Ottawa. They make these spending announcements when they're back in their riding and can be present for the grip-and-grin photos of the cheque being handed out. When the House of Commons is sitting, #ottawaspends will likely be very quiet.

Some asked why do this: Beats me. Twitter is new for all of us but it was my thinking that, as a reporter, I am never going to write a full story about a $5,000 announcement. I'm probably not even going to blog it. But give me 140 characters of space — sure, why not? And, as I and others have noticed, in reporting all the small announcements, some broader more interesting trends in government spending are emerging.

Of course, #ottawaspends belongs to no one. If you've got your own syntax or short forms you want to use, knock yourself out. If you want to let me know your rules, I'll be happy to post 'em here and, perhaps, create a separate Web page with them.

And don't forget, feel free to follow me on Twitter for all my tweets plus the #ottawaspends ones that I generate.

UPDATE – DEC 17/09: I have been adding one more data point to these tweets. I have been trying to determine what riding some of this money will be spent in and when I do, I am now noting that on the end each tweet. So: “#CPC riding Toews” means the funding for the given announcement will be spent almost entirely in a Conservative riding and that riding belongs to the MP who last name is Toews. “#CPC ridings” means the funding will be spent in two or more Conservative ridings. “M” means the funding will be spent in two or more ridings and those ridings are held by two or more parties.