提出公平性感知网络嵌入的分类框架,助力构建更公正的图学习模型。
Fairness-Aware Network Embeddings: Methods, Applications, and Challenges

- 按嵌入方法、干预策略和公平目标三维度分类现有技术
- 揭示不同方法在群体与个体公平性上的差异及敏感属性假设
- 为构建可信图表示学习提供系统性参考,适合研究公平性算法者
网络嵌入方法通过学习图结构数据的低维表示,支持节点分类、链接预测和影响力最大化等下游任务。然而,现实网络常反映由人口不平衡、同质性等引发的结构性不平等,而传统嵌入方法会编码并放大此类偏见。为此,众多公平性感知的网络嵌入方法被提出,以在保持嵌入效用的同时缓解偏见。本文综述复杂网络中的公平性感知嵌入方法,提出一个涵盖三种互补维度的分类体系:基础嵌入方法(谱方法、随机游走、图神经网络、贝叶斯方法及无特定方法)、公平性干预策略(预处理、内处理、后处理)以及公平性目标标准(嵌入层或任务层)。进一步比较方法在群体与个体公平性、敏感属性假设方面的表现。最后讨论当前局限,并指出有前景的未来方向。本综述为公平性感知网络嵌入提供了统一视角,是开发公平可信的网络表示学习方法的重要参考。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Network embedding methods learn low-dimensional representations of graph-structured data to support downstream tasks such as node classification, link prediction, and influence maximization. However, real-world networks often reflect structural inequalities arising from demographic imbalances, homophily, and other societal biases, which fairness-agnostic embedding methods can encode and amplify. To address this issue, numerous fairness-aware network embedding methods have been proposed to mitigate bias while preserving embedding utility. This survey presents a comprehensive overview of fairness-aware network embeddings for complex networks. We propose a taxonomy that categorizes existing methods along three main complementary dimensions: underlying embedding approach (spectral, random walk, graph neural network, Bayesian, and method-agnostic), fairness intervention strategy (pre-processing, in-processing, and post-processing), and fairness objective criterion (embedding- or task-level). We further compare methods with respect to group versus individual fairness and assumptions regarding sensitive attributes. Finally, we discuss current limitations and highlight promising future research directions. This survey provides a unified perspective on fairness-aware network embedding and serves as a reference for developing fair and trustworthy network representation learning methods.
Thank you to arXiv for use of its open access interoperability. PaperDance 不是 arXiv 官方产品;中文卡片由大模型生成,请以原文为准。