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Prof Lizette de Wet, pioneer in the field of Human Computer Interaction

10 February 2021 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Stephen Collett

“I consider obtaining my PhD while balancing my work, my marriage, and two young daughters (who did not sleep through before reaching age four!) as one of my biggest achievements,” says Prof Lizette de Wet, Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Informatics at the University of the Free State (UFS).

Many firsts

Her achievements in the field include much more than the PhD referred to. On 11 February, International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the UFS celebrates her for pioneering the human-computer interaction (HCI) research environment, specifically the evaluation of usability and user experience in diverse application areas, where she has experienced and established many firsts.

Prof De Wet was one of the first students to complete a master’s degree in this discipline at UNISA (1994). She says the external examiner for her master’s was from the University of York in the UK, as expertise in South Africa was still lacking at the time.

In the Department of Computer Science and Informatics at the UFS, she established the HCI research area. This involved undertaking research projects in the discipline and developing curricula for a second-year module, an honours module, and a master’s module.

“The second-year module was also one of two modules on campus to first use iPads in class to assist in a blended learning approach,” she says.

Taking the human being into consideration is much more important than simply concentrating on the programming code that needs to be written.– Prof Lizette de Wet

A woman’s contribution

Prof De Wet believes that in the research field of HCI, the focus is on the user and his/her overall user experience (including emotions, feelings, and competence) when using computers. “Taking the human being into consideration is much more important than simply concentrating on the programming code that needs to be written.”

Whether the human being writing the code is male or female, does not matter. Prof De Wet is of the opinion that there is no gender distinction between what women and men could achieve in the field of Computer Science and Informatics.

“Although the students are still predominantly male, in the past few years more and more female students have enrolled for our postgraduate studies and completed it successfully, some of them with exceptional marks. In South-Africa, many women are making their mark in this discipline by being heads of departments at universities or in the private sector, by chairing national and international conferences, and by publishing ground-breaking research,” she adds.

Success with virtual reality

Over the past few years, Prof De Wet has concentrated on using brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) and virtual reality in her research. By the end of 2020, she had successfully supervised 11 master’s students and four PhD students, with one of the master’s students delivering ground-breaking research using virtual reality in the training of nursing students.

She elaborates: “The prototype involved virtually examining and evaluating a patient (with a foreign object lodged in a lung) in a virtual ward while wearing an Oculus Rift headset. The evaluation results were extremely positive and will be continued as a PhD study to investigate how to attempt to relieve motion sickness in an immersive virtual clinical simulation.”

Starting out as someone who never had the opportunity to lay her eyes on a computer during her school years, Prof De Wet is of the opinion that in South Africa – being a Third World country – there are numerous opportunities to make computers accessible to rural communities, and even to the large senior population who did not grow up with technology and might fear it.

With her passion for the profession, she not only delivers pioneering work, but also trains professionals in computer sciences who will contribute to a better tomorrow.

News Archive

Getting out of the dark

2015-04-28

Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

Since 2008, the University of the Free State has been busy with the planning and implementation of projects to reduce the impact of load shedding. To date, the cost of these projects has run to R6 million. They have been done primarily to ensure that the academic programme does not suffer damage as a result of the increasing interruptions in the power supply that are continuing this year.

The university’s greatest concern has been the provision of emergency power to the lecture halls and laboratories.

Thus far, 35 generators are servicing 55 buildings on the three campuses of the UFS. This includes 26 generators on the Bloemfontein Campus, eight on the Qwaqwa Campus in the Eastern Free State, and one generator on the South Campus in Bloemfontein. The generators are already in service, and are maintained in working order.

Since 2010, the university has also ensured that all newly-built academic buildings are equipped with emergency power supplies.

On the South Campus in Bloemfontein, the new lecture-hall building and the computer laboratory are equipped with emergency power, while the installation of emergency generators in other buildings is under way. The majority of the buildings on the Qwaqwa Campus in the Eastern Free State are equipped with emergency power supplies.

In the meantime, the UFS management has approved a further R11 million for the installation of additional generators on the three campuses. A further R1.5 million has also been approved for the purchase of two mobile generators.

To extend the work already done, the main task will be the installation of more generators on the Bloemfontein Campus to ensure that lecture halls with emergency power will be available for the centrally-arranged timetables, and to ensure that more of the critical laboratories will be provided with emergency power.

There are still some important buildings and halls on the Bloemfontein Campus that must be supplied with emergency power. However, it is a costly process and must be brought into operation gradually. The further implementation of emergency power depends on the delivery of equipment. The university is also investigating alternative solutions for power provisioning, including solar power.

Generators with spare capacity are optimally deployed to satisfy the lower needs of the campus, including the Odeion, the ANNEX at Microbiology, the Stabilis ANNEX, the Agriculture Building, the UV-Sasol library, and the Francois Retief Building.

In addition, the UFS is busy on all campuses, coupling area lighting, including

street lights and pedestrian walkways, to existing generators. Procedures for the operation of mechanical equipment, such as entrance gates, lifts, and so on, are currently being dealt with on all campuses. Continuous power sources for certain ICT equipment will be installed on all campuses to protect it against power surges.

Staff and students can also equip themselves with the necessary knowledge to manage load shedding in their specific areas of work and study. It is always helpful to know who to contact. The following list with guidelines and contact numbers has been compiled to assist you:

1. In an emergency, call Protection Services. This line will continue to operate, regardless of whether the power is on or off.
2. Avoid using lifts just before planned load shedding. Some lifts have emergency power packs which will bring the lift to the nearest floor and open the doors. If you still get stuck in a lift during a power outage, use your cellphone to call Protection Services. While you're waiting, stay calm and be patient.
3. If the access control systems in your building stop working after load shedding, contact Protection Services.
4. The students and staff members who are most at risk during load shedding are those in wheelchairs or with other mobility limitations. As far as possible, plan ahead to avoid being stuck on a floor or in a room that is difficult to access when load shedding is imminent. Please contact Protection Services if you need assistance.
5. During a fire, alarms WILL go off. Alarms are not power driven, but battery driven. For assistance, contact Protection Services.
6. The main UFS Switchboard (Bloemfontein Campus +27(0)51 401 9111 and Qwaqwa Campus +27(0)58 718 5000) will continue to operate during load shedding.

Contact details of Protection Services:

Bloemfontein Campus: +27(0)51 401 2634/2911
Qwaqwa Campus: +27(0)58 508 5460/5175
South Campus: +27(0)51 5051217

Communication and Brand Management will make information available on the UFS web, Facebook page, Twitter, Blackboard and the intranet. Get the load shedding schedule from Eskom’s webpage (http://loadshedding.eskom.co.za/). The Bloemfontein Campus falls in group 4 and the South Campus falls in group 2 in Centlec’s load shedding schedule.

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