Alright, so I had heard a lot about this Phil Meyer guy, figured I should check out what the fuss was all about. First thing I did was try to find out who this dude even was.
So I hit up some search engines, you know, the usual routine. Typed in “Phil Meyer” and boom, tons of stuff popped up. Turns out, he’s this big-shot journalist, professor, all that jazz. Seems like he’s pretty well-known for something called “precision journalism”. I spent a good chunk of time clicking through different pages, you know, just skimming the surface, trying to get a general idea.
After I got the basic gist, I decided I wanted to dig a little deeper. I started looking for specific stuff he’d written. Found some of his books listed, but I wasn’t really in the mood to buy anything just yet. Instead, I focused on articles and papers that were available online for free.
I started printing out a bunch of these articles, ’cause I like to have a physical copy to scribble notes on, highlight stuff, you know. I probably ended up with a stack about an inch thick. Then, I just started reading.
- It was tough going at first. Some of this stuff is pretty dense, especially if you’re not familiar with all the technical terms. But I kept at it, re-reading sections, looking up words I didn’t know.
- Slowly but surely, it started to make more sense. I started to see the connections between what he was saying and what I already knew about, like, data analysis and stuff.
- I started to understand why people make such a big deal about him. He’s got some really interesting ideas about how journalists can use data and social science methods to do better reporting.
What I learned from the read
Once I felt like I had a decent grasp on his main ideas, I decided to try applying some of them to my own work. I picked a topic I was interested in, something local that I thought I could investigate using some of his techniques. I started gathering data, doing some basic analysis, just messing around, really.
It was a lot of trial and error. Some things worked, some things didn’t. But I kept experimenting, kept refining my approach. Eventually, I managed to put together a little report that I was actually pretty proud of. It wasn’t perfect, but it was definitely a step up from what I would have done before I learned about Phil Meyer.
So, yeah, that’s my Phil Meyer journey. It was a lot of work, but definitely worth it. I feel like I’ve got a whole new set of tools in my toolbox now, and I’m excited to see how I can use them in the future.
