Many networks are complex dynamical systems, where both attributes of nodes
and topology of the network (link structure) can change with time. We propose a
model of co-evolving networks where both node at- tributes and network
structure evolve under mutual influence. Specifically, we consider a mixed
membership stochastic blockmodel, where the probability of observing a link
between two nodes depends on their current membership vectors, while those
membership vectors themselves evolve in the presence of a link between the
nodes. Thus, the network is shaped by the interaction of stochastic processes
describing the nodes, while the processes themselves are influenced by the
changing network structure. We derive an efficient variational inference
procedure for our model, and validate the model on both synthetic and
real-world data.Comment: In Proc. of the Twenty-Fifth Conference on Artificial Intelligence
(AAAI-11
