Smithsonian using 3D scanning to archive collection, will be done in 3805555 years

[john ryan zelling]

excerpt from article: 

The goal of archiving the collection is certainly ambitious, and with two people currently working on the project, only a few dozen objects can be scanned each year and not all will be printed. It may be a long time before all 137 million items are in the database, but eventually those 3D models could be made available to the public, with one member of the team saying "we're trying to assess how to scale that up, how to make digital [models publicly] available."

http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/28/2830911/smithsonian-archive-3d-printing-model

http://www.sparpointgroup.com/News/Vol10No5-Scanning-at-the-Smithsonian/