ACMs SIGGROUP has a call for papers on novel approaches to virtual community (Due date: Jan 15, 2005), with the charming title of Less of You, More of Us: The Political Economy of Power in Virtual Communities, explicitly trying to counter some of the research biases present in work to date:

For my money, of course, the most important research bias to undo is the bias that regards the use of social software as mainly leading to virtual communities, with real-world ties between participants being regarded as an unusual occurrence. Most communities regarded as ‘virtual’ have at least some good old-fashioned face-to-face interaction among some of the members, and as Meetup et al have showed us, that trend increases as the density of internet users grows.

Nevertheless, it looks like an interesting CFP, and their interest in non-traditional source of insight could open the door for some much needed conversation between academics and practitioners.