Modernising: a conference

What does it mean to modernise a text when you produce an edition?  Does it improve accessibility for a wide readership?   Might it de-nature the historical reality of the text being edited? Does changing spelling and removing archaic punctuation make a work more available or just make it a different text?  How should editors conceive of historical difference as a textual quality?  What is a facsimile?  And does the provision of notes geared for a modern audience mediate between the reader and the work, or present a barrier to a valuable, more immediate sort of literary experience?

Our speakers are Paul Hammond (University of Leeds, and general editor of the Longman Annotated English Poets) and Tiffany Stern (Shakespeare Institute, and general editor of the Arden Shakespeare); and Oxford participants include Vincent Gillespie, Helen Small, Adam Smyth, Dan Sperrin, and Michael Sullivan.