One of the most important trends in science in the last 150 years has been the professionalization of scientific research, and the decline of the amateur as a serious force in science.

Today, that pattern is starting to reverse. Many Ph.D.s never become academics, but also do not abandon science when they go into other industries. The growth science on the Web, and the Web itself, make it easier for amateur scientists to connect with one another, pool their labor, and thus become a more powerful force in scientific research. A few scientists, particularly in the developing world, are recruiting students, indigenous peoples, farmers, and other groups traditionally marginal or invisible to science, and turning them into fieldworkers, data-gatherers, and experimenters.

Will the return of the amateur have a significant effect on the sciences? In which fields will it matter? How will relations between amateur and professional scientists be structured? These are some of the questions we hope to answer.

Update, 14 May 2008: I'm interviewed on Darlene Cavalier's Science Cheerleader blog.