Editing Culture Cycle

A flexible model that lays out the five possible stages for the process of producing, disseminating, and highlighting cultural expressions, as well as how to receive, use, and understand them. The five stages are: creation, production, dissemination, transmission and consumption. Creation refers to the invention of raw cultural materials, such as the production of a script for a play or melody of a song. The production stage refers to the assembly of the different elements needed for the creation of cultural expressions, such as books and music. The dissemination process occurs when mass-produced cultural expressions are brought to an audience, either through a performance, exhibition, or sale of the product.  The transmission stage is the process of facilitating understanding of a cultural work or the marketing methods used to capture an audience. The final stage of consumption is when the audience is experiencing the culture itself, for example through reading the book, or listening to a particular type of music.