Amateur experts

[ Gura, T. 2013. Amateur experts. Nature, 496: 259-60. ] Gura lays out the promises and pitfalls of "citizen science" – the engagement of members of the public in the data collection and analysis process. She argues that one of the primary challenges in citizen science research design is recruiting volunteers and keeping them engaged in the process, but when properly applied it allows researchers to not only accomplish research goals but also to interact with and engage the general public.