New Nature Editorial: Rise of the citizen scientist

"...Some professional scientists are sniffy about the role of amateurs, but as an increasing number of academic papers makes clear, the results can be valuable and can help both to generate data and to inform policy..."

http://www.nature.com/news/rise-of-the-citizen-scientist-1.18192?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20150820&spMailingID=49357355&spUserID=NDg3Mjc3MjM4MzYS1&spJobID=743016620&spReportId=NzQzMDE2NjIwS0