This is an Australian article, but it could work anywhere!
At the NHM in London we do a lot of Citizen Science - it's a great way for scientists with important questions to harness the power of interested people to help go out and provide the data which can later be combined to produce really important results.
The important thing is that it must start with a scientific research question, otherwise it is just a public engagement exercise. Citizen Science isn't about getting kids to go pond-dipping ... it isn't about teaching about the natural world ... it's about encouraging participation in science and feeding back real results and a positive experience to the citizens who take part
There are several such items on the Internet. Here is just one example:
What a great idea ! It becomes more difficult to do when the research is funded by a grant. That pretty much restricts where and how and with whom the data can be gathered.
Well it already is international, look at iNat and Questagame, Australia has Bowerbird as well. With the advent of mobile phones people are submitting natural history sightings using photos complete with location data to be identified and entered into the big databases which are now mainly all linked. I know I work in this field as a communicator/taxonomist.
There is also Foldit which is to do with organic chemistry and a whole list of citizen science astronomy projects. [skyandtelescope.com]
It does work anywhere since the advent of the internet!