Let's say you're one of a dozen artists with subscribers in the low double digits. You'd like to help each other, but guest strips and shoutouts can only do so much. An old-style comic crossover would help you have more fans in common but they're hard to do if you plan on maintaining consistent production values. Or would they be so hard?

This is a spinoff topic based on my recent comments:

Would anyone be interested in a crossover event? I don't mean with me specifically, but I've got this idea that I'd like to see in action. It's a way to generate buzz and cross-pollinate everyone's subscriber count. I know that similar things have been tried before, but this time there's a couple of new technologies involved.

How about instead of a traditional mentorship program, we do these collaborative crossover events human-swarm style.9

It used to be that a large group needed leaders because it couldn't vote on things fast enough or easily enough. But with a simple web interface, it can now make decisions for itself, and in real time too. And that's not all:

To test the value of human swarms1, researchers at Unanimous A.I. enlisted groups of novice users and asked them perform a number verifiable intellectual tasks. For example, these groups were asked to make predictions about the winners of the NFL playoffs, the Golden Globes, the Super Bowl, the 2015 Oscars, the Stanley Cup, the NBA finals, and most recently the Women’s World Cup. In all cases, the predictions made by swarms were more accurate than the predictions made by the individuals who comprised the swarms. In fact, the swarms consistently performed better than even the most skilled individuals in each group. The swarm also exceeded the tally of “votes” given by the groups, trumping the traditional methods of characterizing populations. In short, initial testing suggests that human swarms do more than reveal the “wisdom of the crowd” – they can unlock the collective intelligence of populations.

A swarm consistently outperforms its best members. A swarm made up of regular people will even outperform the average expert:

We took 50 regular movie fans, just average people, and we had them first predict as individuals who they thought would win each of the categories, and then we had those same 50 people work together as a swarm to predict the same set of Oscars.

And what was remarkable is that individuals were on average 44 percent accurate, which doesn’t sound great, but it’s actually really hard to predict the Oscars, there’s a lot of categories. But when those same 50 people worked together as a swarm they jumped all the way up to 76 percent accurate, which was almost double the accuracy when they were working together as a system. And what’s even more interesting is that we can also look at professional movie critics, because all that data exists. The average professional movie critic was 64% accurate. So what we saw is that these 50 average people were able to amplify their intelligence to the high end of expert level performance.

Here's what I propose:

1. Get a mixed group of artists to agree to work together.

2. They either poll their subscribers or involve them in the swarm in order to decide what they'll be collaborating on.

3. The artists move to a smaller swarm to hammer out the outline and plot.

4. Next they write the novel or script using a wiki.

5. If this is a comic, the artwork takes shape through a similar approach. EDIT: The artist hosting the episode will use their usual style but the others will coach them and help with inking and coloring.

6. Each artist takes turns posting chapters under their own names. This creates a roving audience that will boost everyone's subscriber count.

Ideally our prototype swarm should be made up of artists who work in the same genre. We want to keep things simple for our proof-of-concept. Then again, we might not get enough volunteers the first time around. In that case we will need a story that appeals to a broad range of readers.

If we stick to one genre we can use the usual crossover storylines. Events don't have to be canon, but it would be cool if they were. This could be an opportunity to reboot a few comics.

• A new threat has arisen and it requires all the heroes to band together, Avengers-style.
• Interdimensional tricksters (basically the audience) want to see who's the biggest badass among our characters. Time for a tournament arc!
• A Cupid-like trickster has gone through all the romance comics and gotten all the ships mixed up. The characters are stuck on a desert island (or drifting spacecraft) and unlikely pairings start popping up.

If there characters are coming from multiple genres we'll need a story with original characters.

• Interdimensional tricksters are going on a grand tour of the different comics but shit happens and they end up needing to save the multiverse.
• Interdimensional tricksters are chasing after fugitives, who have the ability to blend into whatever group of characters they find. The pursuers could be the heroes. Then again, the fugitives could be the heroes. Each episode takes its tone from the current host comic.
• A Sandman-style anthology, with a frame story and multiple standalone episodes. Everyone will work together on each episode so the project still has consistently high production values.

I hope this works too. If we succeed, not only will we have created a cool new promotional event, but we'll also have found a way to quickly (and easily!) bring new stories to market. We can take advantage of trends faster than ever. Not only that, but if we get our fans to swarm we can actually ask them what they want.

Who else would like to participate? I'd like to start talking about time frames.

How do we want to do this?

So it looks like we're doing Tapas polls. That could totally work. We won't be able to swarm in real time but we also won't have to worry about coordinating across time zones.

Smallest possible group is probably three people. That's not a true swarm, but it prevents any single artist from dominating the conversation. I definitely want to be a part of this, so we need at least two more people.

I'm just a writer, so if I'm going to be part of the first group then the others will have to serve in that capacity only. Larger swarms may be able to contain both writers and illustrators but it doesn't seem fair for a small group.

We still need one other person on board. To be clear, this first story is going to be super short. Three artists means just three chapters, and they can be short chapters at that.

I'm not expecting anyone to put in an extraordinary effort. The point is to make content creation easier by taking advantage of additional manpower, new technologies, and the fact that improving something is less demanding work than creating it from scratch.

It looks like we're doing this already. Great! Can we get confirmation on who's participating? How about it, @Toon, @sandpaperdaisy, @silvereyedlily, and @Puppisama? Is now a good time for you, @punkarsenic and @Kattlanna?

While we're sorting out the lineup, we can also start figuring out what kind of story we want to tell. The group has the last word, but everybody reading this threat can mention a genre or specific story idea or both.

Sure, I meant starting today. But we're all in different time zones so there's no need to do this in real time. We did choose to use the forum for this.

We're brainstorming, but slowly. No need to lose any sleep over this.

I write fantasy, horror, and science fiction. If I have to work on a romance it has to be a romantic comedy.

The idea is to work without leaders, so it wouldn't feel right to have quotas or deadlines that the group hasn't set for itself. In any case, this is the first project of its kind. Let's focus on finishing the work before we try and break any speed records.

Think of it as a project that will be completed no matter what you do. You don't have to worry about the whole thing folding up. Instead you should concentrate on making a contribution and ensuring that you're still here at the finish.

As for future swarms, I can see them having HR meetings. Everyone will have some idea of how much everyone else is contributing. If someone is slacking, they risk getting voted off the island, losing half their share, and not being invited to future collaborations. On the other hand, the really hardworking artists will be free to find groups that more closely match their skill level and work ethic.

Basically the swarm exists to help each of its members. But it's not a free ride and it's not a drag either.

That makes five of us. We're still choosing genres. Most of us have science fiction in common but of course there'll be a poll for this.

If anyone reading would like to join in, you can also contribute a story idea. I'll throw it into the poll too.

Looks like everyone's aboard!

@Toon "fantasy, mystery, or science fiction"
@silvereyedlily "sci-fi, historical fiction, mystery, action and thriller"
@sandpaperdaisy "horror, fantasy and sci-fi, so sci-fi/cyberpunk stuff"
@Puppisama "Action, Sci Fi"
@punkarsenic "scifi rn, particularly cyberpunk type stuff"
@Kattlanna "action and fantasy, with some sci-fi elements"
@joe_galindez "fantasy, horror, and science fiction"

Seven members means a seven-part story. Just something to keep in mind. Everyone mentioned science fiction, but I'd like to confirm with a poll.

Genres
sci-fi (6 mentions)
fantasy (3 mentions)
action (3 mentions)
mystery (2 mentions)
cyberpunk (2 mentions)
thriller (1 mention)
horror (1 mention)
historical fiction (1 mention)

Good idea. This is for the second choice:

To be clear, these are for group members only.

So the first choice will determine the main genre and the second choice the subgenre, while the third choice will add certain elements. Is that right?

I'd like to mention than an Unu-style swarm doesn't compromise. It either arrives at a consensus or it doesn't, and it usually arrives at a consensus. Future collaborations will find it worthwhile to open accounts on Unu.ai, even it if means meeting in real time across different time zones.

Also, while I seem to be acting as coordinator, that doesn't mean I can't be replaced by a step-by-step procedure. Something for next time.

And this is for the third choice.

Does anyone know how to name their polls?

If that's what the group wants. (Really, anyone can start a poll.) But I'd prefer that other people be able to see how it's going, maybe throw in some ideas of their own. Of course, we're going to get into the details of the story soon, so spoilers are a given.

Oooh. Yeah, I agree. What do the rest of us think?