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eWEEK’s Labs group has been–dare I say it?–an institution for almost 25 years. During that time, eWEEK Labs (and before that PC WEEK Labs) analysts have provided independent, expert evaluation of products to IT professionals charged with making the tough decisions about technology in their organizations.
Since the Labs first came to be, a lot has changed. There are many, many more products and platforms to consider, and the rate of change is staggering. At the same time, many organizations don’t have the staff to test–or even learn about–the products available to solve specific business needs. eWEEK Labs analysts continue to test products and write traditional reviews, but we wanted to open up the conversation about–and exposure to–products by engaging the people who are using them on a day-to-day basis.
We built the eWEEK Labs site from the ground up as a place where technology pros can come together to share their insight and expertise about the products they are using–what has worked, what hasn’t and in what context.
We launched the new site in beta in March, and we are working to make it the best it can be. Much of the site’s success, however, hinges on contributions from site members–you.
Writing a review is pretty painless. (Or, it should be, anyway–let me know if it’s not!)
First, you have to be a registered user. To register, go here.
Next, search on the product you want to review. If there is no Product Card in our system for the product you want to review, drop me a line at [email protected].
Once you have the Product Card for the product you want to review, click on the yellow “Submit a review” button toward the bottom of the card.
In the “How I tested” field, briefly state what you did to evaluate the product. For example, I recently reviewed Firefox 4 Beta 1 and 2, and in this box I entered a couple of sentences stating that I tested the browser over a week’s time, during the course of a regular workday that (as is usual for me) involved heavy use of Web searching, Web docs and Web apps.
You will be asked to rate the product on several criteria, and you will then be asked to answer questions relating to the criteria you rated. You don’t have to rate every criterion–just rate the product on what you can speak to best.
After you have rated the criteria, you will be walked through a series of questions. Simply answer the questions based on your experience with the product, and, at the end, hit “Submit.”
A moderator from our Labs staff will take a look at the review and publish it once it’s been approved. (Just to make sure that the site remains a safe place for people to generate and consume info.)
We hope you will consider writing a review and participating in a community of your peers–providing not only your insight but a platform for continuing discussion around products.
If you have any questions or suggestions for making the review process easier or for improving the site in general, we really want to hear about it.