  Traditionally categorical data analysis (e.g. generalized linear models)
works with simple, flat datasets akin to a single table in a database with no
notion of missing data or conflicting versions. In contrast, modern data
analysis must deal with distributed databases with many partial local tables
that need not always agree. The computational agents tabulating these tables
are spatially separated, with binding speed-of-light constraints and data
arriving too rapidly for these distributed views ever to be fully informed and
globally consistent. Contextuality is a mathematical property which describes a
kind of inconsistency arising in quantum mechanics (e.g. in Bell's theorem). In
this paper we show how contextuality can arise in common data collection
scenarios, including missing data and versioning (as in low-latency distributed
databases employing snapshot isolation). In the companion paper, we develop
statistical models adapted to this regime.
