The collaborative project aimed to attract 50,000 individual subscribers (the "Swarm of Angels"), each contributing £25 to the production, but after three years only 1,000 subscriptions were made.
Advisors to A Swarm of Angels include science fiction author and copyright activist Cory Doctorow, graphic novelist Warren Ellis, pioneer digital film producer Tommy Pallotta, and musical mashup artist Eric Kleptone of The Kleptones.
The project won the R&D/Innovation category Britain's Digital Elite awards (sponsored by Real Business magazine and Microsoft) in October 2007.
[4] After gaining big interest and participation levels during the first year in which the project was launched, development has slowed significantly in 2008.
This was in direct response to criticism of the information density and the slow progress of the project, with subsequent difficulty in engagement for new users.