Saw a fascinating presentation on Google Localization, presented by Google’s Dr. Thomas Arend at the Localisation Reseach Centre’s recent 12th Annual Internationalisation and Localisation Conference in Ireland.
There is some great information there on global language coverage, localization issues, and social (volunteer) translation. Yes, that latter topic seems to be coming up more and more. Take a look at the presentation and how Google’s approach might be a model in this regard.
More on the Localisation Research Centre.