Mission Statement
The Pacific Coast Center is a scientific and educational research organization for the purpose of developing and sharing knowledge of the environment and culture and history of regions and urban centers. A wide variety of institutions exist in any region that deal in some way with its cultural resources. Universities provide scholars and students with classrooms and libraries to research and study the history and economy and science of the area. Museums display unique collections of artifacts and documents. City and state and national parks are visited by millions of tourists from around the world. However, these institutions too often function in isolation from the very region in which they exist. A visitor to Point Loma in San Diego will see a statue of Juan Rodr’quez Cabrillo overlooking the harbor without the means to understand the impact that Cabrillo's visit in 1542 had on the environment and indigenous population of the harbor coast or river valleys. What kind of ship did he travel on? Who were the Dieguenos that he first encountered? What became the importance of Ballast Point where the first Europeans set foot in California? To answer such questions and reveal the meaning of artifacts like Cabrillo's statue is the objective of the Pacific Coast Center. With computer technology, it is possible to link data about places that are isolated in space and time. The documents about Cabrillo that currently exist in several different libraries and archives can be retrieved and displayed using a computer network and database. On a computer kiosk placed near the statue on Point Loma, any user would be able to query in plain English a relational database maintained at a central server at USD. This database would retrieve maps, pictures, letters, diaries, books, ship logs, weather charts, videotapes, newsreels, TV reports that resided in different archives. The computer would be able to display a wide variety of documents, from simple text to full-color motion pictures and 3D models. The query about Cabrillo would yield his relationship with a wide variety of topics. Modern methods can achieve the long-sought goal of a "general diffusion of knowledge."
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