Papers for

data aggregation teams

Papers whose findings have a practical use for this group, as judged from the abstract. Open a paper to read what it means in practice.

Knowing the source helps you learn faster from mixed information signals

Learning from a Mixture of Information Sources

Abstract: We often learn from multiple sources that convey information in different ways. How informative is it to know the source of a signal, and how is this informativeness shaped by the distribution of sources? We extend the standard (binary-state, binary-signal) Blackwell experiment model by introducing a commonly known distribution over signaling schemes, representing the distribution of information sources. We compare learning under two information models: source-aware, where decision makers observe a signaling scheme and its realization (e.g., raw reviews, search results), and source-blind, where only the signal realization is observed (e.g., aggregate ratings, LLM-generated summaries). We show that a mean-preserving spread in the distribution of signaling schemes translates into Blackwell dominance for source-aware decision makers, implying they are "risk-loving" in information sources. In contrast, it has no impact on source-blind decision makers. When learning from repeated draws of signaling schemes, source-blind decision makers learn more slowly. However, as long as the average signaling scheme is $\varepsilon$ away from being completely uninformative, source-blind learning can match source-aware learning by using at most $O(1/\varepsilon)$ times more data.

Sun 27 SeptComputer Science and Game Theory
The gist
The paper studies how learning improves when you know where information comes from, compared to just seeing the information itself. The authors find that if you can see which type of information source sent the message, you learn faster and handle more varied sources better. When you don’t know the source, learning slows down but isn’t impossible; you just need more data. This work uses a mathematical model to compare these two ways of receiving signals and shows how knowing the source changes what you learn.
Open → 2609.33214v1