Siliconization refers to how local technocultural practices all around the world have been replaced by an imported "Silicon Valley" model, especially since the 1990s.
This phenomenon was particularly prominent in Eastern European countries after the fall of the USSR. The term was originally used in Romania to refer to how their local practices ("șmecherie") were obsoleted at this time. It is also a near-anagram of "colonization".
Similar developments also took place in many other countries at this time. In Western Europe, this era is often connected to the marginalization of the earlier home computer cultures by a "Wintel" monoculture and the normalization of constant hardware "up"grades.
The spread of Californian ideology and the technology startup culture are closely connected with siliconization.
In order to understand the effects of siliconization it is important to remember and study the pre-siliconization computer cultures – particularly regarding how the mindsets and values differed from those dominant today.
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