Rethinking UX for Sustainable Science Gateways: Orientations from Practice

TL;DR

This paper advocates for viewing user experience as a strategic, design-oriented perspective integral to the sustainability of science gateways, emphasizing community engagement and adaptable infrastructure over narrow usability focus.

Contribution

It introduces a new framework that conceptualizes UX as a structural dimension of sustainability, based on orientations from practice and system thinking.

Findings

Identifies three UX orientations: ad hoc, project-based, and strategic.

Highlights UX's role in fostering sustainable, community-aligned infrastructure.

Provides insights from interviews with over 65 gateway projects.

Abstract

As science gateways mature, sustainability has become a central concern for funders, developers, and institutions. Although user experience (UX) is increasingly acknowledged as vital, it is often approached narrowly--limited to interface usability or deferred until late in development. This paper argues that UX should be understood not as a discrete feature or evaluation stage but as a design-oriented perspective for reasoning about sustainability. Drawing on principles from user-centered design and systems thinking, this view recognizes that infrastructure, staffing, community engagement, and development timelines all shape how gateways are experienced and maintained over time. Based on an interview study and consulting experience with more than 65 gateway projects, the paper identifies three recurring orientations toward UX--ad hoc, project-based, and strategic--that characterize how teams engage with users and integrate design thinking into their workflows. These orientations are not a maturity model but a reflective lens for understanding how UX is positioned within gateway practice. Reframing UX as a structural dimension of sustainability highlights its role in building adaptable, community-aligned, and enduring scientific infrastructure.