The VIA Agency is (hopefully) going to South By Southwest this spring! VIA proposed two panels to SXSW Interactive, and we’re pretty excited about them.

“Crowding Out the Experts—Social Taste Formation” features David Goodman and Greil Marcus. Goodman is the president of CBS Interactive Music Group and Last.fm. Marcus is an esteemed author and critic who was Rolling Stone’s first review editor. The panelists will discuss how social media and other technology is changing the importance of expert opinion in taste formation. VIA’s Annemarie Crivelli will moderate, and the panel is based on the undergraduate thesis of VIA’s Stephen Hebson.

“Shock But Don’t Offend—Daring Brands Walk the Line” features AdWeek’s Tim Nudd, Samsung’s Ralph Santana and VIA’s Greg Smith. The panelists will discuss the difficulties that brands face when attempting to be provocative without offending consumers.

If these panels sound interesting, click the links above to read more about them and vote for them on the SXSW PanelPicker site. Online votes are 30% of the approval process, so we could definitely use your help.