ABSTRACT
The main aim of this research is to study the rise of digital plagiarism, specifically with focus on digital artwork. The problem statement relies on understanding the root cause of this and how this may affect artists in the short term and the long-term. In order to comply with the research objectives, several methods and algorithms were used in creating the application as well as the usage of surveys and tests in order to gauge the usability and accuracy of the application. The challenges faced were met with countermeasures taken from the literature and experience gained by the researchers in creating the proposed system. The application has two main features, of which are a) The applications social media feature, where the user is able to share their digital artwork, send messages to each other and view and follow the art of others, and b) Comparison feature where the user is able to present an image, which the application determines if there is a similar image in the application’s database and presenting the user with a percentage of the similarity and highlight of the modifications if a match is found in the database. The algorithms used in the application are a combination of algorithms, namely, HTML Canvas, SSIM index and Hamming Distance to accurately gauge the similarities and differences between two images. Using the application, it was able to accurately determine discrepancies of the two images. Thus, this could be a good way for digital artist to use this application to determine plagiarism on their digital works.
