Perhaps I was a little judgemental...

Alright, after reading several things about Second Life, including the Richard Urban paper, I can see a little more light at the end of the tunnel. While the fidelity of SL is in my opinion still too primative for true museum or gallery work, I can see that as the platform progresses, public history applications could become useful and appropriate. I have also read that Linden Research is attempting to dramatically segregate the more "adult" activity in SL from the rest of the "worlds." I suppose that it remains to be seen just how successful these efforts may ultimately be, but as it is now, it is difficult to get past the creepiness element in SL to enjoy its other features. Just as the World Wide Web was little more than a curiosity in its early days, SL may one day also evolve into a truly useful tool for the public historian.