Stitch Media

This summer is looking quite busy for the Stitch Media staff. We’ll be attending conferences, speaking on panels, and doing some serious damage to our Air Miles. We love to bump into new / old / familiar faces while we’re out and about, so if you’re attending any of the below events, be sure to say hi and join us for a drink!

May 20 – Cineflux Symposium (Halifax)

Evan will be speaking during the afternoon session panel “Losing the Plot: Digital Narratives“.

June 3 -5 – Produced By (Los Angeles)

Stephan will be attending the Produced By conference, courtesy of Film Nova Scotia who are sponsoring his trip.

June 7 – WIFT (Montreal)

Evan will be in Montreal giving a Transmedia talk for WIFT.

June 10 – TedXHalifax (Halifax)

Evan will be presenting at TedXHalifax.

June 10-12 – MaxFunCon (Lake Arrowhead)

Stephan will be attending the MaxFunCon at Lake Arrowhead, California.

June 12-13 – Banff World Television (Banff)

Evan will be speaking the “Rookies in the Rockies” panel on June 12th.

June 20 – Storytelling X.1 (Toronto, Ontario)

Dana Herlihey will be discussing Redress Remix and interactive documentaries on the “Tell It Like It Is” panel.

April Fools Day is a magical time of year when we are encouraged to put on our thinking caps, get creative, and mess with people’s heads (all for the lulz of course). It also marks the one day a year when brilliant tech heads behind some of the largest online destinations get to troll their users, becoming the ultimate pranksters. The past few years have seen some awesomely clever online April Fools day pranks and jokes, with some companies consistently outdoing themselves year after year. Below is a collection of some of our favourite online April Fools Day jokes.

Bieber or Die (Funny or Die, 2010)

It seemed the whole world had Bieber fever last year, providing the perfect set up for a great prank from Funny or Die and good ol’ JB himself. Funny or Die announced on April 1, 2010 that Justin Bieber had bought the website and subsequently replaced all their videos with videos of himself – even recreating some of the years best memes (including David After The Dentist). While Funny or Die was applauded for the creativity and effort behind the prank, the real winner was Mr. Bieber who earned some serious cred from nerds and comedy lovers alike.

Friday or Die (Funny or Die, 2011)

Funny or Die continues their April Fools Day Takeover this year with the latest YouTube sensation Rebecca Black (who’s song Friday became an unlikely hit due to it’s inane lyrics, ridiculously literal video, creepy rap star cameo, and excessive use of autotune). While Rebecca didn’t completely take over the site (you can still access other Funny or Die videos from the homepage), the exclusive videos are hysterical and feature full participation from Ms. Black (so you feel less bad about making fun of her song, since she’s doing all the mocking for you!) Who knew one terrible song could spawn so much hilarity?!

Reddit Looks Like Digg (Reddit, 2009)

GMAIL Paper (Google, 2007)

I’ll admit it, when April 1st, 2007 rolled around I didn’t realize the significance of the date. So when I saw that Google was launching Gmail Paper I genuinely believed them (for just a moment, I swear!).

Google Translate for Animals (Google, 2010)

Google Helvetica (Google, 2011)

Google has become something of a April Fools Day beast, using the day to pull pranks all over the place – targeting everyone they can. It seems Hipsters and designers everywhere have been incredibly vocal recently in announcing their love for Helvetica juxtaposed to their hatred for comic sans. This has lead Google to a simple – yet fun – prank: google ‘Helvetica’ and the entire google search page changes its typeface to comic sans. Well played, Google, well played.

Rick Roll (YouTube, 2008)

In 2008 YouTube set out to capitalize on the years running online joke by Rick Rolling EVERYONE. They accomplished this by making every featured video on their home page link to Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”.

Flying Penguins (BBC, 2008)

Facebook Live Poke (Facebook, 2007)

I have a distinct memory of this April Fool’s joke as it was probably one of the most successful pranks – users either genuinely believed that Facebook was going to offer a ‘live poke’ service or they loved the joke so much they were keen to convince others it was absolutely true. I suppose the benefit to being one of the largest social networks on the net is having an entire community  of people to support you in your pranks!

The Bronx Zoo Cobra (Ryan Seacrest, 2011)

Ryan Seacrest’s twitter and website was hijacked by the Bronx Zoo Cobra (who’s apparently searching for freedom…or a date). A great April Fools Day win – a ridiculous concept that is well executed.

For a comprehensive list of every online April Fool’s joke from 2004 – 2011, click here and let us know some of your favourite April Fool’s jokes.

We’re happy to announce that Redress Remix is featured in the most recent Applied Arts magazine. In November we learned that Redress Remix won “Best in Education / Reference” from Applied Arts, and we are excited to see that their interactive awards annual has officially hit the newsstands! Redress Remix is featured on page 88 of the magazine (and on the Applied Arts site), amongst some other amazing pieces of Canadian interactive work. Be sure to check out all the winners here, or by purchasing a copy of Applied Arts magazine today!

The Stitch Media team trekked down to Austin, Texas last week to attend SXSW Interactive. While it was a return trip for some and a first-ever for others, the entire team was excited to be a part of the festival. From reuniting with fellow #TeamCanada members, attending thought provoking panels, and eating our weight in barbecue, SXSW Interactive was a complete success. Below, the Stitch team shares their top three moments of this year’s SXSWi. Read more +

Stitch Media is celebrating it’s fourth birthday today and to celebrate we asked our staff to share some of their favourite / stand out moments.

Evan:
I like seeing that ‘Aha!’ moment when people realize why we’re called Stitch Media.  Just like different pieces of fabric are connected via stitches, we’re out there trying to make different kinds of media into a connected whole.  Lots of people work with us for a year and then turn to me one day and go ‘Oh that’s what it means!’  That’s fun.

Victoria:
Having the opportunity to travel and represent Stitch globally and meeting so many great like-minded folks and mentors who have offered so much to the growth and success of our little company. I also love: Show & Tell Fridays, making my dog the Mayor of Stitch Media Toronto on 4square, and celebrating proposal submissions by buying burrito lunches for the team! Oh – and riding the mechanical bull at SXSW last year!

Stephan:
Shooting Saving Penny in Dartmouth and eating donairs.

Dana:
The first time the Halifax and Toronto team ever got together under one roof. There were only four of us at the time, but the official physical meeting of Evan, Stephan, Victoria and myself seemed so incredibly epic.

Mike:
When Stephan and Travis went shirtless to move a credenza in order to recreate the Stitch Halifax Home-Office, into the Home-Office-Studio-Post Facility-Community Center for Moderation Town.

Colin:
When Stephan found BBQ sauce on his shirt… From a week ago

Anna:
When we traveled across Canada and the US, with a motley crew, to share the story of Chinese Canadians for our documentary / interactive project: Redress Remix.

We’re a Canadian company with five staff attending SXSW 2011. As early-adopters, we can’t really imagine how to cope with our roaming mobile data plans – one year in the past a single bill of roaming data reached $600! They do have data roaming plans for $30 – 10Mb /$50 – 25Mb/$60 – 75Mb but we’ve often gone over these caps and paid more. There had to be a better way, and this is the article to capture our research so far. Read more +