What

The Internet of Things allows devices to connect via the internet. This allows access to new content and means users can network together devices. Being able to log in to a device alloss the user to personalise the service it provides. This comes with interactivity challenges.

Why

IoT devices are not designed with typing interactions in mind, meaning the process of “logging in” to a smart-enabled TV for example can be incredibly onerous on the user. The user is required to enter long password strings using remote controls - a device not intended for this type of use.

Action

Commissioned by the BBC, we were asked to explore the optimal design of the pairing code. With this solution, a smart device would display a unique code that a user could then enter into their mobile or tablet device to then hand-off the logging in process to the technology with a keyboard which was better able to allow password entry. But how should those passcodes be constructed?

We conducted user experiments testing shorter passcodes made of random character strings as well as longer passcodes comprised of three-letter-words. To maintain the same level of randomness, these strings were almost twice as long as the random character strings. We tested for speed and error rate.

The results were clear, despite having more characters to type, the three-letter-word passcodes were faster and less error prone.

Impact

The BBC implemented our passcode system for their iPlayer pairing. The user experience of using smart technology for the BBC’s customers were improved and enhanced as a result of our experiementation.