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Students are failing AP tests because the College Board can’t handle HEIC images

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Re: Students are failing AP tests because the College Board can’t handle HEIC images

#451

Post by prima-facie »

azinman2 wrote: post #299

It’s amazing to me that so many are blaming Apple. Despite the fact that this site is all about new technology (so ironic!), uploading a photo from an iPhone isn’t exactly an edge case. They should have tested this, and apparently they did enough to send a tweet about it.. as if that’s enough. Clearly the college board dropped the ball in adequately informing people of their not-great workaround, instead of either sp…

What an embarrassment. Just let the students upload whatever file, run it through imagemagick on the backend and convert to JPEG or PNG. If the output if garbage then shoot them an email.

Re: Students are failing AP tests because the College Board can’t handle HEIC images

#452

Post by gbear605 »

nshepperd wrote: post #411
gbear605 wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No? It’s an ISO standard that’s separate from H.265. Maybe you’re thinking of HEVC, which is like that. (Alternatively I’m wrong, which is totally possible)

HEIC is defined as HEVC in a HEIF container. So yes, it's patent encumbered. Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Image_File_For...

I learned something today, thanks :)

Re: Students are failing AP tests because the College Board can’t handle HEIC images

#453

Post by anigbrowl »

xienyc wrote: post #101
coffeefirst wrote: post #49

"Our system broke, you're screwed now, sorry" is never an acceptable answer. Do they really not have anyone who knows how to get stuff done? 1. Take the files and figure out what to do with them so they can be read. This isn't a hard problem. 2. Ask everyone affected to email you the photo or a new photo of the documents. We'll just take it on trust that you do so honestly because there's no way you would've seen thi…

>"Our system broke, you're screwed now, sorry" is never an acceptable answer. That's not what happened at all. The college board admitted their fault and are letting students take the test again. Even without that, they mentioned in their FAQ that JPEGs and PNGs are the only file types acceptable and even sent out a tweet (which should have been an email) a week before especially for iPhone users to let them know how…

Even without that, they mentioned in their FAQ that JPEGs and PNGs are the only file types acceptable

That's like telling people what brand of pencil they are allowed to use to mark paper. It's not germane to the test and improperly shifts the burden to the student when the technology to automatically screen already exists.

Re: Students are failing AP tests because the College Board can’t handle HEIC images

#454

Post by _snsh »

radlad wrote: post #448
_snsh wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I disagree. I think "media competence" is more important than spelling or grammar and should be something expected of someone entering tertiary education.

But that's not what the test is about. It's not a category on the test.

It's not an explicit category on the test and I never debated that. It might be an implicit requirement though.

Just how when you take your drivers test you should actually be able to operate your vehicle and know the laws around operating a motor vehicle aside from the explicit knowledge required from you in the test. But I understand how this might be a foreign concept for someone from the US.

Re: Students are failing AP tests because the College Board can’t handle HEIC images

#455

Post by bloodorange »

anigbrowl wrote: post #453
xienyc wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"Our system broke, you're screwed now, sorry" is never an acceptable answer. That's not what happened at all. The college board admitted their fault and are letting students take the test again. Even without that, they mentioned in their FAQ that JPEGs and PNGs are the only file types acceptable and even sent out a tweet (which should have been an email) a week before especially for iPhone users to let them know how…

Even without that, they mentioned in their FAQ that JPEGs and PNGs are the only file types acceptable That's like telling people what brand of pencil they are allowed to use to mark paper. It's not germane to the test and improperly shifts the burden to the student when the technology to automatically screen already exists.

It might be like saying the students are only allowed to mark their answers in blue ink or black and no other colour rather than saying it's a particular brand.

Re: Students are failing AP tests because the College Board can’t handle HEIC images

#456

Post by _snsh »

judge2020 wrote: post #447
_snsh wrote: post #443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I agree, when It's part of the subject in test. I don't see any reasonable cause for a student to have to know about file types to submit a test, if that test isn't about file types. I don't, for example, expect my doctor to know how to convert an image file because that's not his job. Understanding the conditions of your test is part of the test. And your doctor doesn't have to know. His toolchain forces him to use…

You're still supporting that computer knowledge of what image file formats are and how to convert them should be part of the test. They can learn that later when their high school or college makes them take basic computer classes (hopefully), right now they just want to upload their image. Either Apple or College Board is at fault here but it isn't the user.

Yes, if you want to use a cell phone and/or a computer to complete your tasks you should have some basic knowledge about how it operates.

You can shift responsibility for that knowledge wherever you want but I would say that at the age between 16 and 19 (which google tells me is the average age for AP classes) I would expect that knowledge from someone applying for AP credit. And if someone didn't know what the accepted file types (as stated in the FAQ) meant at that age I'd expect them to figure it out for themselves.

Re: Students are failing AP tests because the College Board can’t handle HEIC images

#457

Post by rsynnott »

_snsh wrote: post #438
whatatita wrote: post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Knowing a file type is an "esoteric technical requirement" ? Yes, when it is outside of the scope of the test. Unless they're testing the students on their knowledge of data storage, or similar, this is out of scope.

Well, I disagree. I think "media competence" is more important than spelling or grammar and should be something expected of someone entering tertiary education.

Well, I suppose you’re welcome to have whatever bizarre opinions you like, but you should recognise that they’re pretty fringe.

No, this isn’t something the average person should need to know about.

Re: Students are failing AP tests because the College Board can’t handle HEIC images

#458

Post by [deleted] »

azinman2 wrote: post #299

It’s amazing to me that so many are blaming Apple. Despite the fact that this site is all about new technology (so ironic!), uploading a photo from an iPhone isn’t exactly an edge case. They should have tested this, and apparently they did enough to send a tweet about it.. as if that’s enough. Clearly the college board dropped the ball in adequately informing people of their not-great workaround, instead of either sp…

[deleted]

Re: Students are failing AP tests because the College Board can’t handle HEIC images

#459

Post by [deleted] »

xienyc wrote: post #101
coffeefirst wrote: post #49

"Our system broke, you're screwed now, sorry" is never an acceptable answer. Do they really not have anyone who knows how to get stuff done? 1. Take the files and figure out what to do with them so they can be read. This isn't a hard problem. 2. Ask everyone affected to email you the photo or a new photo of the documents. We'll just take it on trust that you do so honestly because there's no way you would've seen thi…

>"Our system broke, you're screwed now, sorry" is never an acceptable answer. That's not what happened at all. The college board admitted their fault and are letting students take the test again. Even without that, they mentioned in their FAQ that JPEGs and PNGs are the only file types acceptable and even sent out a tweet (which should have been an email) a week before especially for iPhone users to let them know how…

[deleted]

Re: Students are failing AP tests because the College Board can’t handle HEIC images

#460

Post by dahfizz »

rgovostes wrote: post #215
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I kind of agree with the sentiment, I'm also totally done with the notion of "Apple decides to have their own unique format every 2 years, and makes the change in a backwards incompatible way, so now the world needs to kowtow to them, despite Apple dragging their feet in many areas of standardization." Seriously, fuck Apple. It took legal changes in the EU to force them to the "Just f'ing support USB-C like the…

It's funny because the Lighting connector has been around since 2012, when Android phones were largely using Micro USB, with an awkward flirtation with the wide USB3 connector. Now they're standardizing on USB-C, so if you were upgrading frequently you may have needed 3 cables in the past 8 years. Before then iPhones used the 30-pin connector, backwards compatible with 5-year-old iPod accessories. At that time other…

This is misguided. The problem is not how quickly one format or the other iterates. The problem is forcing your users to endure a closed, licensed format.

A USB accessory will work on any device, but a lightning accessory only works on an iPhone, to nobody's benefit but Apple. Apple's hate of standards is anti-consumer, and that's why the EU ruled against them.

What particularly ircs me is that Apple has acknowledged that USB-C is the superior plug by going all in on their laptops. But they can't let go of all the money they make selling licenses for third party cables on iPhones.

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