Label Space Transfer Learning
Samir Al-Stouhi, C. K. Reddy, David E. Lanfear · 2012
Small datasets pose a tremendous challenge in machine learning due to the few available training examples compounded with the relative rarity of certain labels which can potentially impede the development of a representative hypothesis. We define "Rare Datasets" as ones with low samples/features ratio and a skewed label distribution. Since a generalized training model can not be theoretically guaranteed, a method to leverage similar data is needed. We propose the first algorithm that utilizes transfer learning for the label space, present theoretical verification of our method and demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework with several real-world experiments. In addition, we formally describe what constitutes a "Rare Dataset" and present a detailed characterization of related methods.