Canadian WW1 service files plans

"Unprecedented access to .. high-quality digital copies of the more than 650,000 (CEF) service files for free anytime and anywhere." That's the promise from Library and Archives Canada, with completion of the project, expected in 2015.
According to a release from LAC, Public Works and Government Services Canada will undertake the digitization. Each file contains, on average, 49 images, for a total of over 32,000,000 images or almost 617 terabytes of scanned information.
Not being able to handle the original documents will be a pity but that's understandable for the long term preservation with the collection permanently stored at LAC's Preservation Centre for future generations.
Digitization does mean that parts of the collection will be inaccessible for a while.
See the details of the initiative at http://goo.gl/R24Djf