Urban Intellectual Network Clusters: Board Game Communities in the City of Ufa

Abstract

Intellectual network clusters are an essential factor of urban development. The authors studied the formation of board game community in the city of Ufa, Russia. The research objective was to identify the trends, problems, and risks of urban network cluster development that, in their turn, affect the development of local intellectual communities in particular and urban development in general. The information and communication approach made it possible to perform a socio-philosophical analysis of board game communities with their online discourse. The authors developed MegaNet software to study the communication structure of network communities. The cluster-network analysis showed that board game fans are a relatively closed structure that unites active users, few of whom possess enough connections to maintain an efficient information exchange, which delays the development of the cluster as a whole. A low proportion of passive participants reduces the opportunities for growth and development. The developed method and the data obtained can be applied to other urban intellectual communities. The research may be of interest to stakeholders in the development of the domestic board game market.