1 : A method for classifying cases, comprising: receiving a pool of unlabeled cases; receiving a set of per-case symmetrical importance scores, each unlabeled case having an associated per-case symmetrical importance score; applying a selection algorithm with a classifier to a training set and the pool, without the per-case symmetrical importance scores, to determine selection scores, each unlabeled case having an associated selection score; combining the selection scores and the corresponding per-case symmetrical importance scores to form combined scores, each unlabeled case having an associated combined score; providing a high scoring unlabeled case to an oracle to label; receiving a labeled case back from the oracle and augmenting the training set with the labeled case; training the classifier with the augmented training set; and applying the classifier to an additional unlabeled case.