Citizen science is a term used for the systematic collection and analysis of data; development of technology; testing of natural phenomena; and the dissemination of these activities by researchers on a primarily avocational basis. Individual citizen science volunteers or networks of volunteers, many of whom may have no specific scientific training, perform or manage research-related tasks such as observation, measurement, or computation.The use of citizen-science networks often allows scientists to accomplish research objectives more feasibly than would otherwise be possible.
Citizen science is one approach to informal science education. To capture these multiple meanings of citizen science, some workers in the field now refer to "public participation in scientific research."Citizen science is related to long-standing programs employing volunteer monitoring for natural resource management, and is often employed as a form of education and outreach to promote public understanding of science. Technology is credited as one of the main drivers of the recent explosion of citizen science activity.
(Source: Wikipedia)
This article is a great place to start in understanding how citizen science is changing our landscape as well as our learning habits. The Great Backyard Bird Count stands as an excellent example of effective citizen science. More thrilling citizen science projects that get this lady's heart beating like a DC techno beat:
The International Boiling Point Project
The Global Sun Temperature Project
The Bucket Buddies Project on March 7, 2012
Life at Hurricane Creek, a local citizen science project through Project Noah