Forthcoming in February at Emory, for all you thunking types out there, the press release states:

On Monday, 11 February 2008 Emory University will host a public forum
discussing both research and long-term implications of virtual and
real-world interactions with regard to commerce, politics, and society.

Castranova positions the conference as the first gathering of the growing community of academics examining virtual worlds:

These possibilities have now been thrust into the spotlight by the publication, in Lancet and Epidemiology, of research on the Corrupted Blood plague in World of Warcraft. A trickle of virtual world social science papers is appearing. It appears we are now entering the next phase, in which hard-nosed, quantitative, social and behavioral scientists will address the likely impact of virtual worlds across all society. A community is forming, and the first conference of this nascent community will meet at Emory University on February 11, 2008.

See you there! I’ll be the one wearing tweed with patches on the elbows.