ICIA, BICSI Announce Partnership For AV Design Manual And Education Advancing Knowledge And Skills For Professionals In Audiovisual Design And Building Industries

13-May-05

The International Communications Industries Association, Inc. (ICIA) and BICSI announced today that they will jointly offer two new resources that support the audiovisual design community. The development will give the two associations' members easy access to one another's courses; it will enable them to take advantage of the new CSI MasterFormat which outlines construction specifications for AV and IT infrastructures; and it will promote the two organizations' respective credentials programs to architects, building owners, general contractors and others in the building trades. BICSI and ICIA have agreed to collaborate on the creation of a reference manual for AV systems design, building upon BICSI's long history as a well- respected source for reference manuals and on ICIA's industry-recognized expertise in developing educational programs for the AV industry. The publication will include fundamentals for conducting work correctly as an AV systems designer and will be written to address the needs of designers with one to three years of experience.Subject matter experts (SMEs) from BICSI and ICIA plan to meet in June 2005 to develop the curriculum (a meeting known as a DACUM) and determine specifics of the content. The SMEs will comprise both BICSI Registered Communications Distribution Designers (RCDD) and ICIA Certified Technology Specialists in Design (CTS-D).The second initiative will promote instruction to one another's members. ICIA will teach BICSI members its Design School series, which includes Design School Online and three levels of classroom instruction -- Design School Level 1: Principles of Applied AV Design; Design School Level 2: Facilities Design; and Design School Level 3: Systems Design - at BICSI's Tampa, Fla. facility and other locations. BICSI's RCDD instruction will be offered to ICIA members at ICIA's Fairfax, Va. headquarters.""This collaboration signifies a tremendous step toward helping our members gain needed expertise in designing systems,"" said Donna Dunn, Executive Director of BICSI. ""Now our RCDD's can build on their knowledge and expand their business opportunities more broadly.""Randal A. Lemke, Ph.D., Executive Director of ICIA, added: ""As organizations that have a lot in common, we've found a way to bring more value to our respective memberships. This supports excellence and advances professionalism within the AV design and building industries by helping audiovisual professionals and information transport systems technicians work together efficiently for the ultimate benefit to their clients.""

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