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Main Authors: Analytis, Pantelis P., Kaushik, Karthikeya, Herzog, Stefan, Bahrami, Bahador, Deroy, Ophelia
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.18868
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author Analytis, Pantelis P.
Kaushik, Karthikeya
Herzog, Stefan
Bahrami, Bahador
Deroy, Ophelia
author_facet Analytis, Pantelis P.
Kaushik, Karthikeya
Herzog, Stefan
Bahrami, Bahador
Deroy, Ophelia
contents How do the ratings of critics and amateurs compare and how should they be combined? Previous research has produced mixed results about the first question, while the second remains unanswered. We have created a new, unique dataset, with wine ratings from critics and amateurs, and simulated a recommender system using the k-nearest-neighbor algorithm. We then formalized the advice seeking network spanned by that algorithm and studied people's relative influence. We find that critics are more consistent than amateurs, and thus their advice is more predictive than advice from amateurs. Getting advice from both groups can further boost performance. Our network theoretic approach allows us to identify influential critics, talented amateurs, and the information flow between groups. Our results provide evidence about the informational function of critics, while our framework is broadly applicable and can be leveraged to devise good decision strategies and more transparent recommender systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_18868
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A recommender network perspective on the informational value of critics and crowds
Analytis, Pantelis P.
Kaushik, Karthikeya
Herzog, Stefan
Bahrami, Bahador
Deroy, Ophelia
Social and Information Networks
How do the ratings of critics and amateurs compare and how should they be combined? Previous research has produced mixed results about the first question, while the second remains unanswered. We have created a new, unique dataset, with wine ratings from critics and amateurs, and simulated a recommender system using the k-nearest-neighbor algorithm. We then formalized the advice seeking network spanned by that algorithm and studied people's relative influence. We find that critics are more consistent than amateurs, and thus their advice is more predictive than advice from amateurs. Getting advice from both groups can further boost performance. Our network theoretic approach allows us to identify influential critics, talented amateurs, and the information flow between groups. Our results provide evidence about the informational function of critics, while our framework is broadly applicable and can be leveraged to devise good decision strategies and more transparent recommender systems.
title A recommender network perspective on the informational value of critics and crowds
topic Social and Information Networks
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.18868