Laurent Chomel holds a PhD in Information and Communication Sciences. His research focuses on the contemporary conditions for the circulation, appropriation, and transformation of knowledge, particularly within digital environments. He investigates how knowledge can support democratic processes, both through the modalities of its dissemination and through the forms of civic engagement it fosters. He is especially interested in amateur video production on YouTube, the evolving landscape of media literacy, and the critical uses of platforms within emancipatory dynamics, especially among young adults.
Deeply concerned with ecological issues and the systemic imbalances generated by the prevailing socio-economic model, he develops a reflection on the cognitive and cultural levers that might support an ecological bifurcation. Since 2022, he has been implementing this approach through an active pedagogy at Université Paris 8, leading a workshop each year with around thirty students. Together, they co-construct narratives, collective experiments, and desirable imaginaries of life that align with planetary boundaries, drawing inspiration from critical theory, ecological economics, and the commons.
His work in both research and teaching adopts a transdisciplinary perspective, at the intersection of educational sciences, the sociology of engagement, digital media studies, and political philosophy.
His dissertation, defended in April 2024, is titled: The YouTubization of Knowledge as a Subpolitical Engagement Mechanism for Young Adults. Example of the #DataGueule Channel, Co-produced by France Télévisions and Broadcast on YouTube.
A book based on his research will be published by L’Harmattan in January 2025 under the title: The Videotization of Knowledge: How Young People Learn and Engage.
Conference Participation
- CHOMEL, Laurent. « Reinventing imagination to confront climate crisis: A transdisciplinary workshop course at university, » ERUA Vilnius Summit, June 2024.
- CHOMEL, Laurent. « Video practice as knowledge empowerment, » Roskilde ERUA Summit, October 2023.
- CHOMEL, Laurent. « How can digital technology contribute to raising political awareness among young adults? » Colloquium on Intergenerational Digital Horizons, IUT Bordeaux Montagne, April 3, 2024.
- CHOMEL, Laurent. « New cultures of public debate and ‘low-intensity’ debates, » CNRS Seminar, Centre Internet et Société: Participation and Citizenship in the Digital Era—Towards New Research Dynamics, October 2023.
- CHOMEL, Laurent. « YouTubization of knowledge as a mechanism for activating political engagement, » Colloquium on Engagement in Research, Engaged Research, Research on Engagement: Insights from Educational Sciences, Paris Nanterre, November 2023.
- CHOMEL, Laurent. « YouTube: A Third Space for Popular Education? A Historical Lineage, » MSH PN Cerege-Cemti Seminar: Digital Industries and Young People—Aesthetic and Emotional Experience, Content Creation, and Emerging Social Practices, May 26, 2023.
- CHOMEL, Laurent. « What can public broadcasting do to foster civic engagement among young adults? » Proceedings from the SFSIC Doctoral Symposium, 2019. Available online: https://sfsic.org/index.php/evenements-de-lasfsic/doctorales-sfsic-
Publications
- CHOMEL, Laurent. Vidéotisation de la connaissance. Comment les jeunes apprennent et s’engagent. Editions de l’Harmattan, 2025, 310 pages https://liseuse.harmattan.fr/9782336510613
- CHOMEL, Laurent. « YouTube and the Political Initiation of Young Adults: When Comments Spark Deliberative Practices, » Revue française des sciences de l’information et de la communication, 2023, no. 26. http://journals.openedition.org/rfsic/14039
- CHOMEL, Laurent. « Political Engagement of Young People on the Internet, » Lecture Jeune, 2022, no. 181, pp. 11-13. https://hal.science/hal-04056103/document
Event Organization
- Organizer of the Assises de l’Attention (Conference on Attention), February 1, 2020, La Bellevilloise, 19 rue Boyer, Paris. https://www.collectifattention.com/assises-de-lattention/assises-2020/en-mots/