基礎設施觀點的媒介思想，除了從理論著述中閱讀，或許也能從本地當代小說參透。本文從吳明益的《苦雨之地》（2019）出發，提出小說裡刻畫的棲息地作為傳播思想材料的可能。就「海洋如何媒介」這個範例命題來說，本文並置《苦雨之地》及媒介史學家彼得斯（John D. Peters）的著作The Marvelous Clouds，前者自具體棲息地場景與角色際遇，開展本地的科技／自然／文化環境下的運籌意義，後者論述人類與鯨豚類適應海洋環境的技藝與科技。本文進一步參考「生命媒介化」（biomediation）及「伴生物種」（companion species）之概念，提出媒介作為棲息關係與相依網絡的再思考。。

If a university teacher is a medium, what and how does he/she mediate, and from what sort of habitat and relations? I probably wouldn’t ask these questions if I didn’t struggle with making theorization—not just theories—relevant to my communication students over the years. Certain thinkers in the field, like John D. Peters, has a way to always seize the basic question (what is a medium) and animate it with new thoughts (e.g., elemental media from The Marvelous Clouds). This essay illustrates how a creative nonfiction from contemporary Taiwan—Wu Ming-yi’s The Land of Little Rain (2019)—can complement a discussion of Peters’ elemental media. The rich details of “habitat” in the novel reference the science community, Taiwan’s ecology, and the overlapping nature/culture. To underline how such hybrid and assembled notion of habitat formulate certain relationship around species, devices, technologies, I discuss the framework of biomediation which Mack Hagood developed from disability media studies, and the generative narratives of companion species by Donna Haraway. Ultimately, the takeaway is to recognize the power of the specific and the ordinary habitat.