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arXiv · 2509.25395

Crowdsourcing Without People: Modelling Clustering Algorithms as Experts

Jordyn E. A. Lorentz·Katharine M. Clark
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Abstract

This paper introduces mixsemble, an ensemble method that adapts the Dawid-Skene model to aggregate predictions from multiple model-based clustering algorithms. Unlike traditional crowdsourcing, which relies on human labels, the framework models the outputs of clustering algorithms as noisy annotations. Experiments on both simulated and real-world datasets show that, although the mixsemble is not always the single top performer, it consistently approaches the best result and avoids poor outcomes. This robustness makes it a practical alternative when the true data structure is unknown, especially for non-expert users.

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Jordyn E. A. Lorentz, Katharine M. Clark. 2025-09-29. Crowdsourcing Without People: Modelling Clustering Algorithms as Experts. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.25395

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