RoadTests are open to any element14 member who would like to participate in the program. RoadTests are competitive, however. Applicants compete to get selected as an official roadtester. (In the past we had RoadTests by Invitation, which pre-selected applicants, but that program has been turned down because it was not performing the way I felt it should.) Also, there have been a few times where I got very few candidates and I had to contact people who did not originally apply but ONLY AFTER re-contacting the original applicants to get them to provide a better application. If I just did not feel the remaining original applicants were interested or able to do the roadtest, I went with people who commented on the roadtest or otherwise expressed interest in the product. But this is not my preference.
It is true that the selection process considers several factors beyond the application itself. Knowledge of the product or technology, community participation, and the ability to complete the testing and review-writing in a 60-day time frame are the three important ones. The other variable is tax responsibility. If the product is valued over $600, US roadtesters will need to complete a tax form; roadtesters from other areas of the world will have to abide by their local tax laws.
New roadtesters are always recommended to the supplier. The need to broaden the available testing group is the primary reason. The other reason is fairness. All members should have a decent chance to being chosen as an official roadtester. New roadtesters have to demonstrate they can do the roadtest and review, however. If they are a new member and a new roadtester it is likely that they don't have the level of participation that an experienced member with 10,000 points has. We follow up with new roadtesters more than with experienced roadtesters, just to make sure they are not confronting some kind of unforeseen obstacle. Finally, new roadtesters may not have the polished writing skills that experienced roadtesters have. But polished writing skills are not required.
You do not need great writing skills to be a roadtester. Yes, you have to be able to communicate in English and put your thoughts in writing. But roadtest writing, just like any technical report writing, improves the more you do it. If a new roadtester provides a solid review of the product, but may not have all the 'bells and whistles' in the review that an experience writer has, I still find that acceptable. There have been times behind the scenes when I critiqued the review writing and gave some tips on how the roadtester could improve. Roadtest review writing is an acquired skill for most people. Practice improves the writing skills.
I hope this clarifies any confusion about review writing or my expectations of the quality of the final review.
Randall Scasny
RoadTest Program Manager
