For Western civilization, it seems that it may have first begun in the Mideast with recording the size, composition, and ownership of herds using clay tokens sealed and fired in clay pouches to represent the number of herd animals. Eventually, to avoid having to break open the clay pouches to see what was inside as a record, symbols were inscribed on the outside to represent the contents of the pouch.
This apparently led to the realization that a flat clay tablet could be used to keep records of herds without needing to make tokens and seal them in clay pouches. In turn, that led to keeping other records, to the development of written language to do so, and to its role in the administration of city-states and kingdoms -- and eventually to posting electronic comments and messages.
So instead of making the tokens they just printed clay tablets backed by nothing!! :)
They actually DID represent something of value then.
Fascinating story and I NEVER heard it before.
And it reads like a logical progression.
Cursive writing is still out of the comprehension of some.