Online diarists looking to get constructive feedback on their journal sites now have a couple of new options.

The Journal Critique Group, founded by 15-year-old Leslie Terwilliger, brings diarists together in five-person groups. The members then review and comment on each others' site in a critique session that lasts five weeks.

Submitted reviews are collected then distributed as a set. A new session is started every two weeks, the whole process carefully moderated.

According to Terwilliger, the first three sessions are already set. The next open group will begin critiquing at the end of July.

For those looking for a more informal setting, there's Journalize, an open and unmoderated mailing list.

Journalize depends on the 'honor system,' in that members are encouraged (but not forced) to contribute if they join to receive critiques. The closest thing to a moderator is the Journalize Review, a regular report of new and ongoing members and their sent-to-received critique statistics.

The establishment of both groups came after a resurgence of interest in the longstanding but now privately run Diary Crit List. Diary Crit List moderator Renee Daughtry reported earlier this month that there was a long waiting list to participate.

A fresh perspective on "the state of the art" of online journaling is in the works.

Oklahoma diarist Jenna Varnell is now seeking submissions for OLJ, a 'zine focused on the cyberjournal phenomenon.

Scheduled for an August 1 launch, the 'zine will accept "anything that even vaguely relates to online journaling," from how-to columns to editorials to past entries.

Although she's only been keeping a web journal since April, Jenna has jumped into the journaling community with both feet. In addition to OLJ, she also runs the Spellage webring and participates in many "collabs" and other journal projects.

Online journalers in two cities are planning get-togethers this weekend.

Ontario diarist Cara Leitch-Thompson, 28, is organizing a gathering in Toronto on Saturday, June 24. It'll take place at 10 a.m. at Dooney's, which is at 511 Bloor Street West.

Then on Sunday, June 25, journalers in Boston will have a picnic at 2 p.m. in the Boston Public Gardens. The pot-luck picnic is being planned by Susan Marie.

E-mail RSVPs aren't required but very much appreciated from people looking to attend the gatherings, whether it's the one in or .

A diarist in The Netherlands wants to hear from online journalers. Literally.

Rien, author of The Reality Asylum, is putting together a custom CDROM featuring, among other things, musical "trance tracks." And he wants to spice it up with sounds from his fellow diarists.

What kind of sounds?

"Anything. Never mind PG or PC. Never mind English, German or French," he writes. "And you can send me a single word, a slogan, your motto, nonsense, whatever."

Rien says he hopes to use every submission he receives, and those whose contributions end up in the final mix will get a free copy of the CD. Of course, anyone will be able to get a copy for only the cost of packaging and postage.

"The CD will not be commercially released," he writes. "I'm not making any money out of this."

Submissions will be accepted in WAV or MP3 format if they're smaller than 300k in size, or by mail. Updates on the voice project will soon be posted on Rien's site.

Rien also runs the Numbers Project, in which readers submit photos of numbers they find around them to be used to indicate days of the month.

Out There! Collaborations, a new monthly journal prompt, has been launched to help diarists "shake things up a little bit."

The project was the brainchild of Arizona diarist and country music radio deejay Tom McLaughlin, 28. While he's been writing his journal, Out There!, since August of last year, this marks his first formal step into the journaling community.

"I've never tried this before, but I think it will be a successful venture," McLaughlin said. "It's not a reinvention of the wheel, but a chance for some of the lesser-known journalists to tell their stories, and exercise their creativity."

Two diarists, both from West Virginia, have already joined and contributed to Out There! Collaborations. Terry, 26, and Cris Gravely, 23, encouraged McLaughlin to start the project.

McLaughlin stresses that participation is "take it as it comes," and that no one has to write every single month. The topic for July is: "If you had a chance to change something about yourself from high school, what would it be?"

A new webring has been created for those picky with their prose.

Spellage brings together online journal authors who know the difference between you're and your.

The ring was founded by Oklahoma diarist Jenna Varnell after she realized the most common complaint readers have about web journals is poor spelling and bad grammar.

"This is a place for those select few [journals] that won't annoy them to death," she writes.

"The only real requirements are that you have an online journal," Jenna says, "and that you either can spell naturally or spell-check your entries."

A Connecticut diarist is joining the fight against AIDS, armed with a bicycle and the support of her readers.

Dana, 29, is Rider No. 1286 in the sixth annual Boston>New York AIDSRide, taking place September 15-17.

"It's a long ride, it's an enormous, frightening ride," Dana wrote. "It's something that I'm doing because it scares the shit out of me... Have you lost a friend to AIDS? I have."

Dana is seeking pledges from people willing to sponsor her, encouraging people to fill out the form and open their wallets. "I've become a regular whore about asking people for money," she writes. "I am not shy."

At least one of Dana's fans has already pledged  fellow Connecticut journaler Rob Rummel-Hudson  and even designed a "Sponsor Dana's Sore Ass" logo.

The Boston>New York AIDSRide is one of nine rides nationwide taking place from June to October.

Web journaler Sara Astruc will be featured in a documentary series on "urban voyeurism" to air this week in the United Kingdom on Channel Four, based in London.

Astruc, 31, was interviewed last year while living in New York City by SpyTV. The segment featuring her online diary will air at 12:20 a.m. on Thursday, June 8.

"She reveals her life's most intimate thoughts and private details for anyone to read on the web," explains the SpyTV website, which includes an excerpt from Astruc's journal.

The series was the brainchild of two student filmmakers, who toured New York to document how new technology -- from webcams to night-vision videocameras -- has changed things for both voyeurs and exhibitionists.

Astruc has since moved to Palm Beach, Florida.

Other SpyTV segments featured people who stage performance art for everyday surveillance cameras and a voyeur who uses a digital camera to snap "upskirt" pictures of unsuspecting women around town.