Article by Janis L Dickinson, Jennifer Shirk, David Bonter, Rick Bonney, Rhiannon L Crain, Jason Martin, Tina Phillips and Karen Purcell.
Front Ecol Environ 2012; 10(6): 291–297, doi:10.1890/110236

From the article:

"In a nutshell:

• Citizen-science projects guide public participation in a breadth of ecological research topics and studies of abiotic factors
• In combining research with public education, citizen science also addresses broader societal impacts in a profound way by
• engaging members of the public in authentic research experiences at various stages in the scientific process and using modern communications tools to recruit and retain participants
• Over the past 20 years, several new developments in information science – especially in data informatics, graphical user interfaces, and geographic information system-based web applications, which can now be ported to smartphones and other hand-held devices – have been vital to the emergence of citizen science
• Citizen-science projects face issues of prioritization and sustainability, raising the question of how government funding and partnerships might help sustain public interest in doing science for society"