There is no reason a move toward full papers would need to be drastic. In future years, a call could be made for both full papers and abstracts, the former as part of a special track that would also be appealing to publishing arrangements with some of the journals who have been supporters of research by AIR attendees in the past. This would allow for the organization to "try out" full papers, without requiring an immediate ramping up of reviewers or process.
I think this is a good idea, and would be interested in seeing the organization move in this direction. Particularly because it is gradual and a no-harm-done sort of experiment, regardless of outcome.... Maybe a good starting point would be to ask some of those journal editors whether they'd be willing to sponsor topical special issues, and then fill those special issues with full papers from the conference? [Not sure whether you'd want the editors soliciting the authors, or the authors competing to get their papers into issues. I can see pro/con of both sides.] Great ideas, Alex! --e