And because they view buying plane tickets as a challenge, this mix of frequent flyers, travel agents and amateurs are often well informed about the ins and outs of booking long-haul flights or complicated itineraries.

BBC: Need a flight? Start a contest

That was, in part, because experimenters were often amateurs who were spending private money.

ECONOMIST: Medicine: Shooting down cancer | The

But advocates of citizen newsgathering - who value the capacity of amateurs to get to places professional reporters often can't - say it would be a mistake to hold everyone to the same standards as veterans of the craft.

BBC: News Magazine, Washington DC